Sept. 01--Los Angeles County supervisors have formally reaffirmed their backing of a contentious $2-billion plan to build a 3,885-bed replacement for the downtown Men's Central Jail and a new women's jail in Lancaster.
The vote mirrored one taken last month and came after Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey accused board members of violating the state's open-meetings law by failing to give proper notice of the earlier decision.
Last month's vote on the jail plan hadn't been listed on the agenda posted before the meeting. Rather, it was conducted unexpectedly in connection with an agenda item involving creation of a multimillion-dollar program to divert mentally ill arrestees from the jail system.
On Tuesday, once again, dozens of advocates who want the jail system downsized urged the board to change course.
"If our county has $2 billion to spend, we want that $2 billion to go toward the kind of work to make our communities functional and livable places for people to live so they don't end up in the prison system," said Kwazi Nkrumah, a community activist and president of the Echo Park Neighborhood Council. "If our county has $2 billion to spend, we want you to start spending that money on the opposite end of the process."
The board also heard from Sheriff Jim McDonnell and others who said the planned men's jail will probably not be large enough to fit the county's needs.
McDonnell pointed to two consultant reports that recommended a larger facility, even with plans for diversion. He urged the board to vote for a plan with the flexibility to accommodate 3,900 to 4,900 beds.
"Only time will tell how effective diversion will be," McDonnell said. The planned 3,885-bed jail could turn out to be "grossly insufficient," leading to worsened overcrowding and early release of prisoners, he told the board.
Former Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, who is working as a consultant for developers planning to build a new jail in the San Bernardino County city of Adelanto, showed up to make a pitch to downsize the downtown Los Angeles jail and rent beds in the Adelanto facility.
The board rejected all of those proposals and voted again for a 3,885-bed facility.
The vote on the jail plan was unchanged from last month. Supervisor Don Knabe was opposed and Supervisor Hilda Solis abstained. Solis had argued for a smaller facility and Knabe said he wanted the option of a larger jail in case the plan to divert mentally ill arrestees isn't successful.
"Wishful thinking and maybe some ideology with respect to jail bed counts is not an appropriate public safety path," he said.
The board also voted to reaffirm their approval of the diversion program for mentally ill arrestees. The program includes creation of a new Office of Diversion and Reentry with the goal of diverting at least 1,000 people from jail to treatment programs.
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Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Sheila Kuehl, who proposed the diversion plan, said the vote was a major step toward a more humane jail system.
"I believe that diversion is the right thing to do, and it puts taxpayers' money to much better use than incarceration," Ridley-Thomas said.
Kuehl said: "We are changing direction, and we will work as hard as we can to keep the boat going in the right direction."
Lacey, the district attorney, called the move to create a diversion office "a great step in the right direction," but warned that it "will only succeed with the right type of leadership."
The vote to set up the diversion office was unanimous. However, Knabe opposed portions of the proposal dealing with funding of the office and how the money will be allocated, saying that should be worked out by the county's chief executive.
The board also agreed to establish a "gender-responsive advisory board" to consider issues associated with the planned women's jail, including how to ease hardships for family members traveling to visit inmates in the far-north county facility.
The approved jail plan calls for the now-vacant Mira Loma Detention Center in Lancaster to be renovated into a 1,600-bed women's facility. It will replace an aging and overcrowded women's jail in Lynwood. The new facility is being called a "women's village" and is expected to include rehabilitation programs.
Activists have objected to the distant location of the lockup and called for more emphasis on diverting women from incarceration.
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UPDATE
2:04 p.m.: This article was updated to reflect the discussion and vote by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.
4:05 p.m.: This article was updated to include more details on Tuesday's debate, the jail plan and the diversion proposal.
The first version of this article was published at 8 a.m.
