Judge Orders L.A. County to Fix Jail Intake Center Overcrowding
A federal judge ordered Los Angeles County to end its practice of stuffing an excessive number of inmates within the small cells of the jail system’s central processing hub, another victory in our ongoing challenge to improve jail conditions.
“Inmates, particularly pre-trial detainees who are imbued with presumption of innocence, deserve better than to be housed in a system which has defaulted to the lowest permissible standard of care,” wrote U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson in the decision handed down in October.
The order came days after the ACLU of Southern California requested a temporary restraining order to force an end to the unconstitutional practices in the Inmate Reception Center, which serves all seven facilities in the county jail system. Under the ruling, the county is now prohibited from holding more than 20 inmates for more than 24 hours in a small cell.
In our filing for the temporary restraining order, we presented first-person accounts and statements from those who have witnessed the “unspeakable conditions” endured by hundreds of inmates at the center. Thirty to 40 men at once were being crammed into holding cells so small they had to take turns lying down on the filthy floor. They had to remain there up to three or four days at a time, with no regular meals, access to showers, beds or mattresses. Illness, hunger and extreme fatigue were common.
“This order means that the nightmarish conditions in our jails cannot be maintained,” said Mark Rosenbaum, ACLU/SC legal director. “Inmates should not be stripped of the bare requisites of dignity and decency.”
DECEMBER 2006
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Judge Orders L.A. County to Fix Jail Intake Center Overcrowding
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