The Answer Isn’t “Fines”….It’s a Jail Facility capable of Constitutional Housing and Treatment.
By Joseph P. Charney
In 2019 the ACLU, and other anti-jail advocates, urged the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors to end the county’s plan to construct a jail replacement facility. That facility would have ensured compliance with a Department of Justice (DOJ) initiated 2015 consent decree that addressed the inadequate mental health housing and treatment of thousands of county inmates. In spite of providing no realistic alternative to the decade long effort of a jail replacement, the Board agreed with well-organized advocates and abruptly ended the project. In its stead, the Supervisors endorsed the slogan “you can’t get well in a cell”, and voted to close Mens Central Jail with the intent to divert thousands of inmates to non-custodial mental health facilities .
Since 2019, the numbers of seriously mentally ill inmates have dramatically increased, and the claim that diversion could replace in-jail treatment proved to be an ideologically induced delusion. What occurred was predictable — thousands of LA County inmates continue to receive inadequate constitutional care and housing.
The ACLU, having successfully argued against expanding the facilities that could have improved the housing and treatment of inmates, now seeks a contempt order against the county for its failure to provide constitutional housing and treatment. Specifically, it asks that the federal court fine the county for each hour that inmates are not provided adequate care and housing in the inmate reception center. It then proposes that all fines collected be used to help finance additional out of custody diversion beds. Once again, ideology trumps reality, as the ACLU clings to the notion that serious and violent felons can be safely treated outside jail facilities; but it is not alone in this stance. LA County Supervisors recently resisted a DOJ compliance timeline arguing that it would require 2000 inmates diverted to non-custodial facilities.
There are no simple answers to questions related to rehabilitation and constitutional care of county inmates. The most residents of LA County can expect of their representatives is a good faith, realistic attempt of providing inmates with the care that is required, while recognizing that incarceration is necessary to provide justice for victims and protection for the community. But if there are any institutions or individuals to hold accountable — it is not the ACLU.
ACLU staff are not elected by county voters. While their strategy has been unhelpful for the well-being and care of the very individuals they purport to represent, it is the Board of Supervisors who must bear the responsibility of a present situation where inmates are chained to tables and receive inadequate housing and medical attention. It is the Board that is ultimately responsible for the conditions described in the ACLU filing documents. And while the ACLU can continue claiming unrealistically that public safety and massive diversion are compatible, the Board of Supervisors must be held to a higher standard — one responsibly grounded in public safety.
The DOJ should ask Federal Judge Pregerson to hold the county in contempt. But it should not merely argue for a schedule of fines for hourly violations of its 2015 Consent Decree. That would be woefully insufficient to secure compliance. Instead, the lawyers for the government must argue that contempt must lead to the appointment of a federal receiver to fulfill the constitutional rights of county inmates. This is the only realistic way the county’s obligations can ever be fulfilled. A receiver would not need to wait for “violations” to procure necessary funding to insure compliance. Those violations have been ongoing since 2015. Rather, the receiver should present a consent decree compliance plan for Court approval and request all resources needed to comply with that plan. The county should be required to fully fund its constitutional obligations to county inmates before any non-essential county effort should be resourced. This would include providing expanded and appropriate facilities to house and treat thousands of mentally ill inmates, and hiring all necessary professional medical personnel to adequately treat inmates in those facilities.
It is not enough for government to “care”. It’s time to hold it accountable and fulfill its obligations.
