Ill Inmates Transferred to Twin Towers

Under pressure to improve care for ill inmates in the Los Angeles County jail system, sheriff’s deputies Saturday began moving hundreds of prisoners out of the dark, dank psychiatric wards at Men’s Central Jail and into the state-of-the-art Twin Towers.

Deputies were prepared to offer ice cream, cookies and even cigarettes to entice mentally fragile and potentially violent inmates into leaving their cells and making the trek through a long tunnel that joins the two facilities in downtown Los Angeles. But as it turned out, little persuasion was needed: Many of the inmates, who were confined to tiny cells with half a dozen other prisoners, were eager to get to a place where they could see sunlight.

“The inmates have been looking forward to this,” said sheriff’s Cmdr. Jerry Skaggs, who was overseeing Saturday’s move.

The prisoner transfer was expected to continue through today, with 200 more sick and injured inmates being shuffled out of the aging hospital facilities at Men’s Central Jail and placed in the largely unused medical wards at Twin Towers. In all, 1,500 inmates--most of them suffering from mental illness--were set to be moved into the new jail. Most will be housed in one- and two-person cells in Tower One, officials said.

Authorities say they hope that by transferring the sick and injured inmates out of the old jail, they will be able to blunt criticism from the U.S. Department of Justice and others who say that the department has shown “deliberate indifference to inmates’ serious medical needs” by subjecting them to horrific conditions. The move came two weeks after a report in The Times detailed a series of deaths and amputations in the jail system’s antiquated medical facilities.

Some critics say they are worried that problems with the delivery of medical and psychiatric care will continue, only now the snafus will be happening in a more pleasant location. Sheriff’s officials say the move is the first step in a continuing effort to fix the health care system for prisoners.

Since Twin Towers opened a year ago, the 200-bed hospital has remained largely unused. Sheriff Sherman Block said he did not have the money to operate it.

Now, with assurances from the county chief administrative office that the department will receive $4.6 million in additional funds this year to open the medical facility, authorities opted to move the inmates. Officials say they are also working on a variety of other improvements, including the installation of a computer system to track medical records.

“We feel the move will go a long way to alleviate the concerns,” Skaggs said. “It’s all part of our overall scheme to improve conditions in regards to medical and mental health services.”

In an extensive report issued last February, federal officials found that inmates were being drugged and kept in cramped cells and given little or no treatment. The housing conditions were so depressing, experts said, that a discharge from mental health modules may be the only way to improve an inmate’s mental condition.

Federal officials in September ordered the Sheriff’s Department to fix the problems--or face a lawsuit. A team of doctors retained by the Department of Justice is set to return next month to reassess the situation.

To prepare for the return visit, sheriff’s officials went to work two weeks ago on the transfer plan. Starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, about 1,000 maximum security inmates were shuffled from the Twin Towers over to Men’s Central Jail and placed in holding cells until they could be relocated elsewhere. (Third-strike candidates, suspected murderers and other hardened criminals will be housed in the cells vacated by the mentally ill inmates, officials said.)

About 450 homosexual inmates in Tower One were allowed to remain in the jail, officials said, because they are segregated from other inmates. Female inmates are housed in Tower Two.

Once the moves are complete today, the majority of the inmates housed in Twin Towers will be female, homosexual, mentally ill or physically ill. As a result, officials said, they were hearing reports of inmates claiming to be homosexual just to get a spot in the new jail.

“We’re looking more carefully at the screening and classification of those inmates,” said Capt. John Anderson, who is in charge of Twin Towers.

The medical staff is taking extra precautions to make sure sick inmates do not miss their medication, the officials said. Also, medical records will be kept on the same floor where inmates are housed.

Two mental health evaluation teams have been formed. One will work at the Men’s Central Jail, and the other will work at the Peter J. Pitchess complex in Castaic to try to identify mentally ill inmates who are not getting proper care.

“The staff has gotten themselves focused on the critical issues,” said Assistant Sheriff Mike Graham. “We feel we’re well on our way.”