Two Federal Judges Require the County Fulfill its Obligations to the Mentally Ill
By Joseph P. Charney
After decades of failing to fulfill its Constitutional obligations to those seriously mentally ill inmates residing in LA Jails , the Department of Justice (DOJ) forced the County to enter into a Federal Consent Decree in 2015. Since then, the DOJ has attempted to secure compliance with those Provisions of the Decree requiring adequate housing and treatment of this segment of the jail population. The County Board of Supervisors has consistently failed to fulfill these obligations finally forcing Federal Judge Pregerson to issue an order requiring compliance benchmarks by specific dates. Failure to do so could lead to a finding of contempt and a Court appointed Receiver empowered to make budgetary and oversight decisions relating to the entire County Jail system. Contempt appears inevitable as the present facilities are inadequate to conform to Constitutional requirements, something obvious to all but the ideologues now ensconced on the LA Board of Supervisors.
While the County was irresponsibly reneging on its obligations to County inmates, the LA Alliance for Human Rights (Alliance) filed a civil case, three years ago, in Federal Court against the City and County of Los Angeles to secure appropriate housing and care for the thousands of homeless living on the streets and in encampments. An agreement was reached with the City to provide thousands of new housing units for the homeless. At the same time, the County arrived at a tentative agreement with the Alliance wherein the County promised to provide a certain number of beds and facilities to treat those mentally ill in non-custodial settings. When the County sought immediate dismissal of the case upon reaching a settlement with the Plaintiffs, Federal Judge David Carter denied that request. The Judge, who has overseen the case since its filing, is requiring continued Judicial oversight and enforcement power through the appointment of its own Monitor to insure compliance. The County is attempting to secure a reversal of Judge Carter’s refusal to permit a dismissal claiming that the Court has no jurisdiction to impose this additional requirement upon the Parties.
The County hired private counsel to represent it in the case before Judge Pregerson and Judge Carter. Mira Hashmall, representing the County in the Alliance case stated: “County leaders share the court’s sense of urgency in addressing homelessness. We simply believe the lawsuit has run its course and rather than expend money and time on a settled matter, it is now time to fully focus our efforts on working with the city and nonprofit partners outside the court to deal with the humanitarian crisis in our streets.”
Ms. Hashmall apparently wants Judge Carter to ignore the County’s irresponsible disregard of her Client’s obligations required by a Federal Consent Decree for the last eight years. County “leaders” in that litigation have demonstrated no “sense of urgency”. County “leaders” in that case have for eight years ignored the suffering of mentally ill inmates in the County’s care by not “dealing with the humanitarian crisis in the jails”.
If the County did not feel compelled to provide Constitutional care for decades to those incarcerated, why should Judge Carter trust that this same County will abide by its promises by way of a Civil Court settlement. Furthermore, this isn’t a contract dispute or a Federal Tort claim between two private litigants where no overriding public interest exists in compelling continuing oversight. The Alliance case involves the most important challenge facing LA County today, the 120,000 homeless living on its streets. Whether the County fulfills its promises relating to constructing non-custodial mental health facilities will have life and death consequences for thousands of Angelenos. After witnessing the County’s failure to provide Constitutional inmate care, Judge Carter and Plaintiff cannot trust that any proposed agreement will be fulfilled by the Board of Supervisors without the firm and continuing oversight of the Federal Court.
In both the Alliance and Department of Justice matters, Federal Courts are needed to insure compliance. We can only hope that Judge Pregerson and Carter hold the County’s feet to the fire and insist that securing adequate treatment and housing for the seriously mentally ill in both the jails and in non-custodial facilities become and remain the highest County priority.
