The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors continues to kick the proverbial can down the road with its unwillingness to confront the present horrific conditions existing in Men’s Central Jail by irresponsibly seeking its closure without a replacement.
Wilford Pinkney Jr., leading the county’s Jail Closure Implementation Team, recently gave the board a reality check on its decision to close MCJ.
According to JCIT, it will cost approximately $3 billion to attempt to depopulate MCJ over the next five years. In 2019, the county board had voted to replace the aging facility with a modern custodial treatment facility at a cost of $2.2 billion, a project that would have already been completed if it had not been derailed by well-organized anti-jail agitation and an ideologically compliant board. Both the board and activists promoted the idea that inmates could be adequately treated by diverting them to out-of-custody facilities – no need for cells.
Today, the board continues to spend millions of dollars promoting jail closure to signal concern for the welfare of those living in a dungeon they chose to retain.
Men’s Central Jail is hidden from public view, enabling the board to hide its incompetence from county residents. If the jail were filled with the sons of L.A.’s wealthy, this status quo would not exist. If that were the case the families of those incarcerated in dungeon like conditions would have actively supported the board’s 2019 replacement efforts. Their well-financed voices could have provided a counterbalance to the rantings of the anti-jail demonstrators. They would have organized their own demonstrations and finance lawsuits to ensure a jail replacement.
As it stands now, Pinkney’s Jail Closure Implementation Team cannot give the board any specifics on closure, just that it won’t occur (conveniently) during the present tenure of some of the board members.
So, the inmates suffer, the board once again passes the buck, and attempts to claim that increasing the board’s membership to nine from five will ensure more responsiveness to the electorate. We won’t hold our breath. Increasing the votes will have no relation to increasing the wisdom and constructive decision-making of the board.
The only answer is one that has been apparent for years. The project must be placed in federal receivership where a court can oversee the building of a constitutionally adequate custodial facility.
Finally, the board should recognize that the county must address its multiple obligations while pursuing a county-wide system of incarceration.
First, it has an obligation to provide constitutional treatment and care to those in its jails. This means having adequate facilities and personnel to care for the addicted and mentally ill. Secondly, it must provide facilities where victims of serious crime can receive civilized and adequate justice through incarceration of offenders.
The board has an obligation to protect residents of the county against violence and theft by ensuring that those who threaten and undermine the safety and property of residents can be isolated from the community.
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors has a duty to provide adequate facilities to comply with all three obligations. Leveling Men’s Central Jail without a replacement will accomplish none of these goals.
Joseph Charney is a former Los Angeles County deputy district attorney.