Baca Considers Closing Men’s Central Jail

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said he is reconsidering his position on shutting down the downtown Men’s Central Jail. Baca had previously tied a potential closure to the county paying for construction of a new, updated facility.   Now, however, Baca said his review of a special report commissioned by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which found that the county’s prison population could be reduced through early release of low-level offenders and the increased use of electronic monitoring programs, is leading him to consider other alternatives.

The Los Angeles Times said Baca is now looking into housing some inmates at fire camps or at jail facilities located in other counties.

The Men’s Central Jail facility is both the largest and most violent jails in the world.  It has been the subject of scrutiny for a number of years for prisoner violence, staff misconduct and poor supervision.  If shuttered, approximately 1,800 of the county’s most violent inmates would 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Law enforcement officials in LA County agree that out-of-date Men’s Central facility makes it challenging for guards to adequately supervise inmates.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 »

LA County Sheriff Proposes $1.4 Billion Jail Plan

The Chief Executive along with Sheriff Lee Baca pitched a plan to demolish and rebuild the LA County Men’s Central Jail (commonly known as the Twin Towers Jail) and build a new women’s detention facility at Pitchness Detention Center. The estimated cost for this plan is $1.4 billion.

According to William Fujioka, the top executive for LA County, the new plan will “allow the Sheriff’s Department to better manage the fluctuating and volatile inmate populations in the county’s jail facilities and address jail conditions cited by the US District Court.”

Los Angeles County houses the highest inmate population in the country and now has to comply with the ruling set by the Supreme Court to improve conditions of the jails and reduce the number of inmates.

The proposed plans will Read more »

California Inmates Transferred to County Jails

The LAPD and the LA Sheriff’s Department are suddenly finding themselves a bit more stretched. Mandated under the Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011, each of California’s 58 counties, including Los Angeles, will need to take responsibility of certain current and future state prisoners within their jurisdiction.  The Act, also known as AB109, went into effect on Oct. 1.

Under the direction of the Act, non-serious, non-violent and non-sex offenders (known as “non-non-non”) will now serve out their sentences in county jails instead of in state prisons.

Los Angeles Impact

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck, and other city officials point to increased expenses to the city, including the need to hire additional officers.  Additional gang intervention and prevention personnel will also need to be trained, points out Los Angeles gang expert Connie Rice.

Response times for 911 services may also increase, Beck said.

For the average citizen, the question may be “why?”.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) suggests that approximately 7,000 inmates currently sentenced to serve time in state prisons will now be housed within the Los Angels County Jail System.

According to an Aug. 2011 report prepared by the County of Los Angeles Community Corrections Partnership (CCP), the CRCR also projects that “approximately 9,000 offenders will Read more »

Glendale Police Department K-9 Unit

The Glendale Police Department has welcomed a new lead Sergeant to their K-9 Unit. Sergeant Chris Spencer is taking the place of Todd Anderson, who was moved to the East Area Command. Sergeant Spencer has worked as a patrol officer and detective for the Glendale Police Department since 2002.

Sergeant Spencer plans to expand the K-9 Unit as well as provide more opportunities for servicing the Glendale community. Spencer also plans to have the Glendale Police Department work more closely with both the Los Angeles Sheriff Department and the Los Angeles Police Department. Pictured left is one of the LAPD Suspect Apprehension dogs. These dogs are trained to “Find & Bark.” If the suspect stays still, the dog is calmer. However, if he suspect tries to get away or is aggressive with the dog, the dog becomes more aggresive.

The Glendale Police Department’s K-9 Unit has several dogs working Read more »

California Police Officers Receive National Honors

Tonya Page Bail Bonds would like to congratulate the three California law enforcement officers who were recognized by Parade Magazine‘s Officer of the Year. The annual award ceremony is dedicating three of its awards to the following law enforcement officers from California: Thi Huynh of the Garden Grove Police Department, John Young of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, and  William B. Hout of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department.

Huynh is 29 years old and a native Vietnamese. He has been serving with the Garden Grove Police Department since 2007. Two of his recognitions are for saving a 15-year old boy who had gone into cardiac arrest and for resuscitating an inmate who had stopped breathing. Furthermore, he is being recognized for an extreme act of random kindness.

On November 28, Huynh was called to the scene of a fatality. A father had been found in his driveway after dying from a heart attack. When Huynh showed up, the man’s six children and wife was standing there is dismay. Huynh ultimately felt obligated to figure out how this large family with a recently deceased father would survive for Christmas.

Huynh stated, “I wanted people to know Read more »

Burglary Suspect Attempts Escape From SCV Sheriff Station

Ryan Martinez, a 20-year-old  man from Palmdale who was arrested on Monday for residential burglary charges, attempted a tricky and brash escape from the Santa Clarita Jail.

According to a sheriff’s reports, after being placed in a Read more »

Beam Me Up at the Los Angeles County Jail?

The Future of L.A. Jail Law Enforcement is Found in a Laser Beam

The future is right now and has landed on the doors of Los Angeles law enforcement. The latest and greatest gadget to hit the ground running is a non-lethal laser beam! The state-of-the-art weapon designed by Raytheon has been developed in the hopes to reduce prison violence.

Originally designed as a military device for crowd control, the Assault Intervention Device or (AID) works by emitting an invisible heat ray which penetrates the skin up to 1/64th of an inch and feels like a focused blast of hot air. The device has a range of between 80 to 100 feet and really packs a punch.

According to Mike Booen, Vice President of advanced security at Raytheon, he explains that that “No one can stand there for more than three seconds because it really hurts.” Which in turn, causes the person to get out of its way.

The Pitchess Detention Facility, a Los Angles County Jail in Castaic, California, which has at least 400 fights Read more »