Ending Jail Overcrowding in LA County-- Guest Post from Los Angeles Sheriff Candidate Lou Vince

Last month we heard from LAPD Supervisor and LA County Sheriff candidate Lou Vince about the prisoner abuse scandal in the L.A. County jails under current Sheriff Lee Baca. For years, Sheriff Baca has been in denial about the >troubling events taking place in his jails.

As Vince noted in his guest post, a major factor in the scandal is the overcrowding of inmates in the county jails in California today. As he promised, he has penned the following guest post to explain what he would do to reduce overcrowding.

If you like Vince’s solutions, be sure to visit his website-- LouVince.com. Don’t forget, campaigns aren’t free, and Lou will need your support to make those reforms he talks about below. You can make a contribution to his campaign by clicking above.

Overcrowding has become an enormous problem in California prisons and the L.A. County jails. Due to a number of factors, the jails are operating beyond a reasonable capacity, and they can’t do it indefinitely.

As the general population grows, so does the jail population. Our jails are old and it is an unavoidable fact that we will have to make a tough decision as to how to deal with the overcrowding problem.

In the short term, there are basically two choices-- expand the jails to increase the capacity or contract with a regional jail to house inmates elsewhere, and I generally do not support either one of those options as they just create different problems. We can’t keep kicking the can down the road on finding a long term solution to overcrowding. New solutions must be implemented very carefully with cost effectiveness and public safety foremost in mind.

For the more long-term solutions, there are alternative sentencing options that can be successful, especially for first time, non-violent offenders, but they would require the justice system to take a leading role in their implementation.

I generally support programs that allow the inmates to work, and there are various possibilities-- such as work release and supervised probation-- that provide the inmates the opportunity to contribute to the community while still being held fully accountable for their crimes. I will also explore the emerging technology of “virtual incarceration.”

How did the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD), indeed, the entire criminal justice system, get into this situation? Failure in leadership, failure to plan and failure to project population numbers are all part of the problem.

If the LASD, like any other major corporation, had a Formal Research, Planning and Analysis Division that issued formal population projections every six months, analysis of population trends and critical incidents, and cost-benefit evaluations of new LASD programs, this crisis could have been anticipated, managed and prevented.

Also contributing to the overcrowding of the County jails are other factors that need to be mentioned: the political stance of being “Tough on Crime;” mandatory sentencing for state prisoners and the trickle-down effect of squeezing inmates that would have gone to prison back down to the jails; the “Three Strikes” law (which I believe needs to be reworked); and, of course, California’s recent “realignment” of state prisoners to county jails.

It’s time to be "Smart on Crime," not just tough.

The current Los Angeles County Sheriff appears to be resistant to any reforms or purposely oblivious to the severity of the problem. His recent scramble to try to implement the Citizens Commission on Jail Violence recommendations, if 15 years of history is any indicator, will likely fall short.

Right now Sheriff Baca has actually proposed building a new jail, which he began lobbying County Supervisors for during one of the worst times in our economic history. I don’t believe we can spend our way out of these problems. We can use cost-saving measures to not only reduce overcrowding – but give inmates real opportunities to turn their lives around. Simply increasing capacity (building more jails) is simply not the way to go.

Here are four ways we can save money, free up space, and get lives back on track:

1) Investing in Virtual Incarceration

From ankle monitors to smartphone-tracking parole technology, virtual incarceration has been implemented across the country with almost universally positive results. With the budget problems we face in California, Los Angeles County should be leading the way on virtual incarceration techniques and have a state-of-the-art program for it by 2018. As Sheriff, I would make this a priority.

2) Creating New Data Collection Initiatives

A problem exists with the limitations of the County’s data collection system regarding Probation Violations and Non-Felony Bookings. There is insufficient reliable data to do a full scale analysis. LASD needs to facilitate policy analysis and improve the analysis of the flow of individuals and cases through the system with a Formal Research, Planning and Analysis Division. As Sheriff, I would create this important office.

3) Introducing Conditional Post-Conviction Release Bonds

We often allow for the early release of inmates from jail-- primarily non-violent offenders and juveniles-- so why not make these kinds of qualified inmates earn the opportunity to be released early by posting a bond? These bonds would not be available to hard-core criminals (like gang members, violent career criminals, and those that evidenced-based examination shows a high risk to re-offend) and would be revoked if the released inmate did not meet all the requirements of the program (like maintaining gainful employment and staying off drugs).

4) Improving Community Corrections

Intensive community supervision combined with rehabilitation services can reduce recidivism 10- 20%. For low-risk offenders, life skills training and education can mean the difference between returning to crime and returning to work. Sheriff Baca flaunts his Education Based Incarceration as a rehabilitative measure but it is desperately in need of reform.

The instructors are often jail deputies-- not credentialed teachers-- usually with a high school diploma and no teaching background, no class management training or awareness of how to educate students with special needs which describes most of the inmate population. Under this system, instruction amounts to, “Everyone get out your math book and put away your learning disabilities.”

This has to be changed. I propose creating an extensive team of credentialed volunteers, supported by paid staff, with experience in teaching an adult special needs population with bilingualism being a recommended criterion for acceptance.

Of course, there are many other reforms that can-- and should-- take place. Leadership is action, not position. As the Sheriff of Los Angeles County, I will take action and implement these reforms to the jail system.

And, to be clear, implementation is simply not enough. Any manager can implement something. The trick is to change mindsets and lead Deputies to incorporate the goals into their daily work lives.

Now is the time to move forward in a positive direction and effectively implement the reforms discussed in the body of this article, not just give them lip service and a column on a spreadsheet checked “implemented” as the current Sheriff has done.

Overcrowding in the LA County jails can be fixed, and I intend to fix it.