Legal News

Close the old jail, not the new one, says ACLU

By Richard Binder

The American Civil Liberties Union yesterday asked a federal judge to bar the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department from closing a 1,600-bed jail near Castaic Lake without planning for the detrimental impacts such an action might have on other jails.

Sheriff Lee Baca recently proposed closing the North Jail Facility at Pitchess Detention Center starting Sept. 1 to deal with the county's growing budget crisis. The ACLU in turn called for Baca to consider shuttering the dilapidated Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles instead of the more modern jail in north Los Angeles County.

In court papers, ACLU lawyers portrayed Men's Central Jail as a facility where detainees go an entire week without a change of clothes, are forced to bathe in moldy, dirty showers and infrequently see daylight.

Click here for the full story.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on July 14, 2009 (boomark / email).