Prisoners released early
Baca’s bid for prisoners rebuffed
Due to budget cuts and overcrowding in county and state prisons, prisoners have begun to be released on parole or to continue their sentences at home under house arrest.
But Sheriff Lee Baca proposed earlier in the year that prisoners paroled by the state should be jailed temporarily in Los Angeles County jails.
The state’s release of low-level offenders to county supervision, which started on Oct. 1, is part of a plan to cut state costs and to reduce the state’s prison population, which has been far higher than allowed by federal law for years. Prisoners have been sleeping on cots in jail gymnasiums, dayrooms, and program rooms.
When prisoners are paroled, they are given a bus ticket, $200 and an address to report to. But Baca expressed that parolees cannot be trusted to report to locations as requested.
Legally, the prisoners would have to be sent to Los Angeles before being officially paroled in order to implement Baca’s plan. Once paroled, the county would have no right to detain them, absent a parole violation.
Baca said he thought state officials would be open to his suggestion to hold prisoners for a day or two.
However, the notion was not well received. Supervisor Gloria Molina believes Baca’s plan will cause more problems than resolve them, saying it would be a “liability” for the county to take responsibility for additional prisoners.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Sheriff Lee Baca proposed today that prisoners to be paroled by the state be jailed temporarily in Los Angeles County jails.
The state’s release of low-level offenders to county supervision, set to begin Oct. 1, is part of a plan to cut state costs and to reduce the state’s prison population, which has been far higher than allowed by federal law for years.
When prisoners are paroled, they are given a bus ticket, $200 and an address to report to.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 last week to approve a redistricting plan that leaves boundaries largely unchanged and does not create a second Latino-majority district.
The sheriff’s department identified three men who were arrested for an attempted murder on a peace officer in the wounding of a sheriff’s deputy in the Firestone area.
They were identified as Michael Cones, 36, and Joe Childs and Brendan Caveness, both 24. Each was held in lieu of $1 million bail, and their booking photos were withheld pending further investigation, according to a department statement.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Board of Supervisors today approved $87.3 million in programs to fight childhood obesity, provide insurance coverage for children and offer substance abuse treatment to their parents, but the source of funding remains uncertain because one supervisor—calling the plan a rip-off—voted against it.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors today rejected a proposed November ballot measure that would have asked voters to allow termed-out supervisors to serve eight more years in office.
Supervisor Michael Antonovich had recommended the measure—which would extend legal limits from three four-year terms to five—saying experience was critical to managing the county through difficult times.
