Twin Towers Staff Delivers Gifts to Adopted School

A special delivery from the downtown Twin Towers jail arrived at Glassell Park Elementary School in northeast Los Angeles Wednesday afternoon--a sheriff’s van crammed with 100 handmade dolls, 250 books and three computers.

Although supermarkets, law firms and other corporate sponsors have “adopted” schools for nearly two decades, Twin Towers is the first jail to sponsor a school, said officials from the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Sheriff’s Lt. Bill Ryan said the staff of Twin Towers, which opened earlier this year and houses about 4,200 county jail inmates, wanted to form a partnership with the local school community. Earlier this month, the jail and school organized a food drive that delivered 20 gift baskets to needy families. In the future, jail employees plan on tutoring and playing sports with students.

“We’ve had overwhelming response from staff,” Ryan said.

The dolls the students received were made as part of Twin Towers’ work rehabilitation program. Female inmates have created 4,700 cuddly, 2-feet tall dolls. The toys are clad in brightly patterned pants and tunic shirt--although some costumes are cut from the same orange cloth of prison uniforms. The dolls are distributed to churches and other charities during toy drives, said sheriff officials. About 80 other prisoners work for the inmate answering service, which provides release dates and other information to people calling the facility.

The work rehabilitation program, which gives inmates the experience of working an eight-hour day job, aims to reduce recidivism, said Capt. John Anderson, head of the Twin Towers facility. Inmates are not paid for their work.

“It gives them accountability and learning skills,” Anderson said.

As soon as the sheriff’s van pulled up the school Wednesday, students rushed to help unload the loot. In the school library, they belted out “O Christmas Tree.” Student representatives read aloud thank-you letters from their classmates and presented officers with “God’s Eyes”--yarn wrapped around a cross into concentric diamonds.

The officers presented pop-up fairy tale books, science texts, personal computers and dolls to the children. Ryan said the donated computers were older models and the books had been donated to the jail but were inappropriate for adults.

Glassell Park Elementary, which has 980 students, already has partnerships with SuperA, a local supermarket and Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“We’re elated. The sheriff are such good positive role models for the students” said Principal Beatrice LaPisto.