Sheriff Baca considers closing jails due to budget cuts

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said today he is considering closing at least one jail and possibly a second to cope with a $72-million budget gap.

Baca said his plans are still preliminary because he’s not sure exactly how much the Sheriff’s Department budget is will be cut.

But he said the facility most likely to close would be the aging Men’s Central Jail, which over the years has been hit by unrest and several murders by inmates. Jailers have long said the facility is outdated and extremely difficult to patrol.

Such a move would probably require the department to release some inmates earlier than they do now, because the capacity of the county jail system would drop. Baca said he is trying to avoid any cuts in sheriff street patrols, leaving jails the only place to trim.

The department now has about 10,000 deputies. Baca said that the cuts would not require layoffs, but that the department could end up with 400 fewer deputies through attrition.

The county budgeting process often includes public threats of deep cuts –- which officials suddenly agree to reverse at the last minute. Baca acknowledged that it's possible that no jails will close if the budget issues can be worked out. Still, he noted, the department had to slash more than $150 million during the last recession, earlier this decade.

Things are looking grim, he said.

“We are in an emergency situation in the county of Los Angeles,” Baca said. “You have to realize the only way to save this money is to close a jail.”

--Richard Winton

Read the Times investigation into what happened the last time Baca shut down jails and released inmates early.

Photo credit: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[August]

What will the city do with all those criminal Jay-walkers, open containers beer drinkers, and people that smoke cigarettes on the grass roaming the streets? My oh My!

[steve rodriguez]

You bloggers at the Times are protecting Mayor Villa, every story where bloggers cast a negative spin on Mayor Villa you quickly take out that pasting! Don't protect or kowtow to the mayor!!!!!

[Kelly]

How about we deport illegal alien felons to close the budget gap and free up jail space. I'd gladly have my tax dollars go to that effort.

[Mike S]

Why not just cut pay and benefits for all county employees by 15- 20%. That would solve the budget deficit immediately. Their wages and benefits are out of whack with private enterprise; are not sustainable and need to be trimmed anyway. It's inevitable

[Alex]

Why does, he and our Sheriif in Orange County reorganize their prospective departments, from Deputy Sheriffs PC 830.1 to Correctional Officer, similiar to the surrounding counties of Riverside, San Bernadino and San Diego ? The training requirements are a third of time and subsequently money.

[ross]

This is what you get when you support the "No New Taxes" political set. Stingy man pays the most.

[Budswisr]

California should close all jails in state. Most citizens are from Mexico and this would make our illegal citizens feel more at home.

[vochoa]

I do agree witht the pay reduction comment instead of layoffs and closing jails to try and save your budget. What are there going to do with those empty jails if they do close them? That is more tax payer money thrown to waste. Sorry to hear there have been killings but that is the life they chose to live. Murders happen in any jail where there are heavy amount of no gooders. I also agree to send those immigrants back to their homeland. They should embed a tracking device in their bodies and when they try to come over they will be identified. Oh, that is inhumane... We will be violating their rights... Damn...

[Observer]

Legalize Marijuana

[steve rodriguez]

Let them all hang out aro9und city hall. In fact put them on the LA City Council, they'd probably do a better job! Us citizens are now numb to what our so called leaders do to us!

[crying wolf]

The day after Baca made these statements to all the media, the County's Head Administrator Bill Fujioka is telling the same media that Baca was "extremely irresponsible" in doing so because the Sueprvisors had never discussed it or made any decisions.

They want to cut 5% across the board in the county budget, but had told Baca his dept. would not suffer the same amount and they'd try to preserve it as much as possible.

Baca's Sheriff's dept. gets a whopping $2.5 BILLION/ year, much of it to the prison guard's union, while the Men's Central jail costs $50 million/ yr. to run, yet he's trying to scare voters by telling them some 4000 criminals will be let out onto the streets to wreak mayhem and murder and other awful things.

This is a negotiating ploy by Baca which can be seen as insuburdination -- but then he never acts like he really does have a chain of command to the Supervisors, because he's elected. But they control the budget he gets. So this is how he plays the game, trying to get the public to create enough outcry that the Supes will do whatever he wants. NOT right.