Board OKs Plan to Seek Grants for Women’s Jail

Saying it will add efficiency to an overcrowded jail system, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday authorized sheriff’s officials to seek federal grant money to house women inmates on an unused portion of the Peter J. Pitchess jail complex.

If approved, the $3.5-million federal grant--matched by $1.1 million in county funds--will free up space for more dangerous inmates at Twin Towers jail downtown. At the same time it will provide what one Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department official described as a “unique environment for female inmates.”

“It will not look like a jail and it will not feel like a jail,” added Capt. Errol J. Van Horne of the sheriff’s custody division. “It will be a different approach to dealing with the very unique problems of women in custody.”

Plans submitted to county supervisors by Sheriff Lee Baca call for the department to refurbish or replace existing buildings on an unused portion of the south wing of the Pitchess Detention Center. Funded by $10 million in U.S. government grants and distributed through the state Board of Corrections, the grant will pay for upgrades to structures that were rapidly deteriorating and were closed several years ago, sheriff’s officials said.

Van Horne could not predict when the rehabilitation effort would start but said it would take about a year to complete. When it opens its doors, the new medium security women’s jail would house 2,400 prisoners in dormitory-style barracks, Van Horne said.

Other structures include inmate services, medical and education centers, as well as a chapel and a library/counseling area.

The facility also will feature a host of outreach programs targeted to women, along with drug rehabilitation, parenting and self-esteem classes, Van Horne said.

As many as 6,200 inmates are housed at Pitchess, a county jail consisting of four holding facilities--including South, North and East wings and the North County correctional facility.