Category : Los Angeles Jails

Witness Says Captain of Men’s Central Jail Encouraged Brutality

Michael Bornman, former lieutenant at Los Angeles County’s Men’s Central Jail testified that Captain Daniel Cruz created a culture of brutality inside the jail by allowing deputies to use excessive force and then protecting them.

It was alleged that, at the department’s 2009 Christmas party, Capt. Cruz said in a toast to his deputies: “What do I always tell you guys?” To which the jail deputies replied: “Not in the face.”

According to Bornman, now department captain, the slogan was a veiled instruction to deputies to aim blows on inmates bodies in areas that won’t show marks.

Those comments caused Bornman to avoid the Christmas party the following year. During that party, deputies got into a physical altercation with each other, including deputies who had allegedly formed a clique not unlike a gang.

A special county commission was formed in order to address the allegations of brutality inside the jails. Bornman and a fellow department captain testified before the commission about the misconduct of Read more »

Jails Focus On Expansion, Not Reduction

A recent report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of California found that the county jails are focusing more on expansions than reducing inmate populations.

According to language within the report, expansion plans have “explicitly allocated between 16 and 18 percent of their realignment funds to increase jail capacity”.   The Huffington Post further pointed out that plans for “evidence-based alternatives”, which could include electronic monitoring or rehabilitation plans geared toward reducing recidivism rates, are lacking.

In 2011 the U.S. Supreme Court ordered California to reduce the state’s prison population by 30,000.  The state complied, moving to shift non-violent, non-serious and non-sexual offenders from state to county facilities.   Since that time each of California’s 58 counties have received additional funding in order to “cover costs”.

Roughly two-thirds of the counties have indicated they will be Read more »

Burbank Jail Renovations Complete

For almost a year, Burbank has had to share the Glendale jail while its own underwent renovations. At last, the finishing touches have been made and the Burbank Jail is now ready to open its doors and accept inmates.

Transporting Burbank arrestees to the Glendale jail added at least 45 minutes to the process for police officers. This would increase the amount of the response time for Burbank.

The new facility will be able to house up to 70 inmates and bring added convenience to the police officers.

Burbank Police Lt. John Dilibert said, “Response times will decrease because we can turn over officers quicker, versus commuting to Glendale and back. It is such a huge benefit. We have control of what’s happening in the jail, and as watch commander I know what’s going on down there.”

Minor repairs began on the Burbank Jail Read more »

LA Jail Oversight Commission Now Running

A seven-member jail oversight whose job it is to investigate claims of inmate abuse and employee misconduct is now up and running. The committee members consist of a jail safety expert, a police chief, four retired judges and a pastor.

Controversy within the Los Angeles County jails has been making headlines for most of 2011. The L.A. Times has reported there have been “numerous cases of abuse and violence by deputies, including a rookie who resigned after he was allegedly told by a supervisor to beat a mentally ill inmate”.   They further point to disciplinary action against approximately 30 inmates since 2009, many of whom were accused for beating inmates or covering up abuse by other deputies.

Although the scope of the commission’s authority is somewhat hindered in that it is unable to mandate the unsealing of internal documents and cannot actually govern Los Angeles County jails, it will be able to Read more »

California Jail Realignment Dips Prisoner Population

Since the Oct. 1 implementation of the California jail realignment program, reportedly approximately 8,000 fewer incarcerates are being housed in California prisons.

Many jails, however, are still detaining more than twice the capacity of inmates they were designed for.  At current, California is housing approximately 135,000 inmates.  Although this is a marked reduction from the 173,000 inmates being detained in 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court said that still-overcrowded conditions are inhibiting prisoners from receiving adequate and basic health care.

As a means of reducing state prison populations non-violent, non-serious and non-sexual offenders have begun being transferred from state to county facilities.  This has prompted county law enforcement officials to begin releasing some less-serious offending inmates earlier than originally anticipated. Sheriffs officials from throughout the state, including at the Los Angeles County Jail. LA Sheriff Lee Baca has said they are further considering other methodologies of keeping county prison populations under control, including early release with ankle-GPS bracelet monitoring and in some cases, house arrest programs.

In some counties, parolees Read more »

Burbank Police Department Makes Arrest Logs Public

The Burbank Leader has reported that the Burbank Police Department has made its daily arrest logs available on the city’s website.  Those wishing to search for arrest info prior to that time needed to go to the police station to obtain it. Sources say this is just another step in an effort to allow better communication between police personnel and the residents they serve.

This, however, is not the first time a police department has embraced this type of technology.  The Glendale Police Department has arrest logs dating back to late 2010 available on its website, they said.

Acting Police Chief Scott LaChasse told the Leader that making Burbank arrest reports available on-line had been a long-time goal of the department and that personally had been working toward it since Jan. 2010.

The Department said the information is updated every 24-hours and is done via computer program.  The program, created by a crime analyst, pulls information logged at the jail when arrest information is logged into the system.

LaChasse said this is just the first step in further opening channels of communication between the Burbank Police Department and community members.  Social media access, he said, will likely be utilized as a means of “pushing information out”.

He is hopeful that the community will provide feedback so the department can “incorporate the community’s needs”.  By having a better understanding of the every-changing scope of what it is the community requires, he said, he believes the Department will be better able to serve residents.

From a bail bonds industry perspective, these types of arrest logs tend to be used for malicious purposes by unscrupulous bondsmen. Working in an illegal as well as unethical manner, bail companies can “mine” the arrest logs and Read more »

Occupy Camps In LA Cleared Out By Police

Los Angeles protesters were forced to abandon their two-month old camps this week after unsuccessful attempts to get court injunctions allowing them to stay.

Hundreds of police raided the Los Angeles camp shortly after midnight on Wednesday declaring it to be an “unlawful assembly”, furthering that occupiers had 10 minutes to clear out or be subject to arrest. Close to 300 were arrested and approximately 100 were taken to the Van Nuys Jail and the rest were taken to the LAPD Metro Central Jail.  Bail for each of the defendants was set at $5,000.

According to a report by MSNBC approximately 25 tons of debris was hauled away from lawns surrounding City Hall.

Family members moved quickly in an attempt to bail out loved ones but due to the mass influx of arrestees, booking and processing times were delayed.  Los Angeles Police Department Public Information Officer Andrew Smith said that the arrests were “largely peaceful” in nature.  Chief Charlie Beck has been quoted as saying the raid went “as well as could be expected.”

Law enforcement officials are hopeful that positive reports as to how the mission was handled will Read more »

LA County Jails To Need Billion Dollar Renovation

Recent charges of inmate abuse and mistreatment could cost Los Angeles County $1.4 billion.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the County Board of Supervisors could be asked to approve the replacement of the downtown Men’s Central Jail and the addition of space to the LASD Pitchess Jail.

Law enforcement officials in LA County agree that out-of-date Men’s Central facility makes it challenging for guards to adequately supervise inmates.  The plan also proposes adding approximately 400 beds to the Pitchess Detention Center, which could help offset additional capacity being seen due to California’s recently approved prison realignment program.

Proponents of the expenditure, such as LA County Sheriff Lee Baca, say that annual operating costs would be Read more »

LA County Jails Could Soon Be Out Of Room

California’s recent prison reliagnment program, which shifted a number of inmates from state to county jail facilities, is continuing to cause strain to local law enforcement agencies.  Los Angeles County Sheriffs officials say that because as many as 8,000 offenders who would have normally been sent to state prisons now becoming the responsibility of the county, that the Los Angeles County Jails system could run out of room as soon as next month.

The L.A. Times has reported that although the Sheriff’s Department has secured funding to open an additional 1,800 beds, that this is “far below the number needed to accomidate the tide of state prisoners” coming their way.  Sheriff Lee Baca is concerned that this could lead to Read more »

Jail Oversight Committee Approved for LA County

Just weeks after an FBI investigation into abuse allegations at Los Angeles County Jails, as well as reports by the LA Times and other organizations, county supervisors have voted to approve an outside jail oversight committee to oversee the troubled corrections system.

This vote may be viewed as a blow to Los Angeles County Sheriff, Lee Baca, who felt that there was no basis for the FBI’s investigation. He has, however, admitted that he has not done a good job of watching over the country’s biggest prison system.

Sheriff Baca did not attend the meeting with county supervisors.

An outside monitor made several recommendations, which were backed by Supervisor Gloria Molina. These include Read more »