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11/10/11 LA Times: L.A. jails nearing capacity, inmate releases considered
Los Angeles County’s jails could run out of space as early as next month due to an influx of state prisoners, prompting officials to consider releasing potentially thousands inmates awaiting trial.
The state’s new prison law, known as realignment, is expected to send as many as 8,000 offenders who would normally go to state prisons into the Los Angeles County jails in the next year.
Currently, defendants awaiting trial account for 70% of the jail population, but Sheriff Lee Baca said that might need to drop to 50%. The department is studying a major expansion of it electronic monitoring and home detention programs to keep track of inmates who are released.
Baca said the department is also developing a new risk-assessment system designed to be better identify which inmates are the best candidates to leave the jails.
Additional, the department is looking at ways to channel more offenders into education and substance abuse programs rather than jail.
An internal report by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office and obtained by The Times estimated that the county jails would be full sometime by the end of the year. The Sheriff’s Department only has the funding to open an additional 1,800 beds, far below the number needed to accommodate the tide of state prisoners coming its way, the report said.
The realignment plan, developed to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court decision on overcrowding in the state prison system, has generated dire warnings from local police and prosecutors who fear the shift will place more offenders on the streets and increase crime. Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck has predicted that the city could see a 3% increase in crime because of realignment.
There is special concern about releasing more defendants before trial, with prosecutors fearing some defendants might not show up for court. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said he also worries that inmate on electronic monitors could intimidate witnesses or take other actions to disrupt their trials.
Early release of inmates from the Los Angeles jails system has been a reality for years.
The jails are under a federal court order to prevent overcrowding, forcing the Sheriff’s Department to release inmates before they serve their full sentences. The extent of early release has fluctuated over time, depending on funding issues and the size of the jail population.
Between 2002 and 2006, more than 150,000 inmates walked free after serving a fraction of their sentences -- many of them less than 10%. A 2006 Times investigation found that almost 16,000 inmates released early were rearrested while they were supposed to still be in jail. Sixteen were charged with murder.
More recently, sheriff’s officials said they have reduced the amount of early releases.
Good thing they don't have
Submitted by lizsavage on
Good thing they don't have plans to arrest us.
My words represent myself and not Occupy Los Angeles. @lizsavage on Twitter
Jails & Overcrowding
Submitted by Mahayana on
Off topic to the question posted but if drugs were legalized, maybe we wouldn't have this overcrowding issue. Can you imagine the money they would save if they weren't incarcerating & arresting people on drug charges?!
http://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/usa/incarceration/us042903.pdf
Contrary to popular perception, violent crime is not responsible for the
quadrupling of the incarcerated population in the United States since
1980. In fact, violent crime rates have been relatively constant or
declining over the past two decades. The exploding prison population
has been propelled by public policy changes that have increased the
use of prison sentences as well as the length of time served, e.g.
through mandatory minimum sentencing, “three strikes” laws, and
reductions in the availability of parole or early release.
Although these policies were championed as protecting the public
from serious and violent offenders, they have instead yielded high
rates of confinement of nonviolent offenders. Nearly three quarters of
new admissions to state prison were convicted of nonviolent crimes.
Only 49 percent of sentenced state inmates are held for violent
offenses.
Perhaps the single greatest force behind the growth of the prison
population has been the national “war on drugs.” The number of
incarcerated drug offenders has increased twelvefold since 1980. In
2000, 22 percent of those in federal and state prisons were convicted
on drug charges.
The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves - in their separate, and individual capacities. -Abe
Background info to add RE: war on drugs
Submitted by ultrarad on
In Portugal they've decriminalized all drugs. The sky didn't fall. Society didn't collapse. In fact, most of the aims of drug prohibition were better served by decriminalization, at lower fiscal and social costs. It's time the U.S. grew up.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Drug_liberalization#Portugal
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Radical also means staying critical and not drinking anyone's kool-aid.
Maybe at the old Federal Prison
Submitted by audiotruther on
holding center across the street from the Court, it's empty and Fedral so FEMA & Home Land secruity would have jurisdiction over it or they could just throw up a fence around City Hall and boom they have a dention center, uh wait never mind.....
Protest Arrests Usually Don't Involve "Jail" as such
Submitted by Sue Basko on
Protest arrests usually do not involve jail as such. Usually is it is just short holding process and then you go, either on their own recognizance or for $$.
At yesterday's protests in Chicago, the police put people onto a bus and gave them citations and let them go. That is a new idea that might pick up - if you are orderly and if what you are doing is an ordinance violation. For example, those people sat down on a bridge in rush hour, they were coordinated, nonviolent, even wore matching bright blue jackets to identify themselves as part of the sit-on-the-bridge team. These are not unidentified people that might go tearing up the City.
It depends what the act is you're arrested for. If someone causes actual property damage (such as smashing a window or harming a vehicle) or if you really interfere with the police, you may be in for more of a stay.
Sue Basko, Lawyer
OCCUPY PEACE - Legal Info on How to Hold a Peaceful Protest or Occupation
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