As many as 1,800 inmates at the Los Angeles County Jail may soon be sent to another facility, as the Sheriff considers closing a portion of troubled jail system.
The antiquated jail has been central to the reports of abuse, killings, and poor supervision in recent years. Because it utilizes a jail block design popular in the 1960s, jail officers and guards are required to walk long corridors to look into each cell to monitor behavior. Instead, the Lynwood detention facility uses the more efficient circular design, where a centrally located guard booth can view into all cells without the walk.
However, closing the jail block would reduce the number of available beds in the County’s jail system, and could cause some lower-risk inmates to be released. However, the move could ease tensions between the County’s jails and groups like the ACLU and the FBI.
From the Los Angeles Times:
Facing a federal investigation into allegations of brutality in his jails, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca is considering a bold proposal to shutter a portion of the department’s most troubled lockup that has been plagued by inmate killings, excessive force by guards and poor supervision.
The plan would shift about 1,800 inmates, including many of the county’s most violent criminals, from the old section of Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, a sheriff’s jail commander said. The inmates would probably be moved to a newer facility in Lynwood that currently houses female inmates.
Read the full article here.