Not so many years ago, as I was driving home from the grocery store, I looked in my rear view mirror and was horrified to see flashing police car lights and Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers directing me to pull over to the curb and stop my car immediately. At the time, I was living in South Los Angeles, where police patrolled in force as part of a law enforcement strategy to maintain order in African American and Latino neighborhoods. Sometimes police officers stopped citizens just to check them out because "they looked or acted suspicious." Other times, police officers checked car license plate numbers for warrants that had been issued for unpaid traffic tickets or probation violations. Many inner-city residents live in fear of being stopped by police for any reason because one could be arrested on the spot, handcuffed in the middle of the street, taken off to jail, and incarcerated for an undetermined amount of time.
On the day that police ordered me to stop, I was unemployed, had less than $20 in my pocket, and my bank account was overdrawn. The police officers arrested me for unpaid traffic ticket warrants, handcuffed me, stuffed me in the back seat of the police car, and drove off to the precinct. Once at the precinct, I was placed in a holding cell for a few hours, and later put on the county jail bus and driven Downtown to the Los Angeles County Jail for processing.
Normally citizens who are arrested between Sunday and Thursday are scheduled to appear in court the next morning. Unfortunately for me, the L.A. County Court was closed on the next day due to a national holiday. So, I had to stay in jail for the night and a day until the court was back in session. I am not ashamed to admit that I wanted to cry like a baby — but no prisoner will survive if you act like a "cry baby" in county jail. You've got to be tough and be prepared to be physically challenged, or worse, when you are in jail or prison. Fortunately, I was placed in a cell with other traffic warrant violators or minor offenders who were scheduled to see the judge when court was held after the holiday. I still slept that night with one eye open to help make sure I survived this ordeal that in many respects was of my own making.
When I did appear before the judge, he reduced my sentence to time served and minimum court fees, which were still more money than I could pay. In the county jail cell, I was able to use the phone to call a friend who came down to the jail and bailed me out several hours later. Frankly, I was lucky to get out of L.A. County jail.
My arrest and incarceration occurred over 16 years ago. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) just last month called on county officials to close the Men's Central Jail during a press conference held outside the Los Angeles County Hall of Administration. Describing Central Jail conditions "as a medieval dungeon that can 'drive men mad', the ACLU released a 50-page report written by Dr. Terry Kupers. According to Dr. Kupers, "about half the 5,000 inmates at the nearly 50-year-old jail suffer from mental illness. Most of them are awaiting trial and have not been convicted."
The ACLU also announced during the press conference that Dr. Kupers' report was given to Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca last year and was released publicly "after months of negotiations with the Sheriff's Department failed to result in any substantive commitment to follow Kuper's recommendations."
In response to charges of poor central jail conditions, Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said that Sheriff Lee Baca has long believed that the jail has outlived its usefulness and a new jail should be built with a safer and more modern design. Whitmore explained that the jail was built in the early 1960s and originally designed to hold those who committed misdemeanors, but now houses a mix of nonviolent and violent offenders.
"We have been working on this for a very long time and the sheriff believes that ultimately Men's Central Jail should be dismantled," Whitmore added."
Tony Bell, a spokesperson for 5th District Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, said his boss is committed to ensuring the mentally ill receive treatment, But he added that the ACLU has blocked legislation over the years that would ensure mandatory care for those in need of treatment. "Furthermore, while we are waiting for a jail improvement project plan, it makes no sense to close our jail and spend billions of dollars in this fiscal climate," Bell said.
Dr. Kuper found in his report that "idleness and massive overcrowding at the jail lead to violence, victimization, custodial abuse and ultimately psychotic breakdown even in relatively healthy people, as well as potentially irreversible psychosis in detainees with pre-existing mental illnesses.
Frankly, many years ago when I was arrested and incarcerated at the L.A. County Jail, conditions were not as severe as reported recently by the ACLU. At the same time Los Angeles County officials must stop making excuses for not correcting conditions by taking immediate steps to reduce overcrowding and addressing mental health problems. County officials should adopt reforms recently implanted by the state of New York, where officials have reduced its jail population through alternatives to detention that included electronic monitoring, drug and alcohol treatment programs, close supervision and vocational training. I also suggest the creation of an Emergency Reform Board to establish a specific plan to immediately improve Los Angeles County Jail conditions.
Related info:
ACLU's Report on Mental Health Issues at Los Angeles County Jail, by Dr. Terry Kupers
Ronald Ellerbe is editor of Hub City News and columnist for LA Beez.
Photo for collage from ACLU's Report on Mental Health Issues at Los Angeles County Jail, by Dr. Terry Kupers; collage by LA Beez
Legalize pot and tax the crap out of it. Problem solved.