There are more than a few stories about problems with law enforcement in California making the rounds lately. This one is a tale of something that didn’t wind up happening, but it was close. Despite the number of criminals who are ignored or quickly released in Los Angeles County, the police there have still managed to arrest enough suspects to lead to some crowded conditions in the county’s jails. But rather than funding the construction of new jails or shifting some prisoners around to other facilities, Los Angeles County Supervisors Lindsey Horvarth and Hilda Solis came up with a different idea. They wanted the county to “declare the state of mental health services and overcrowding in the Los Angeles County jails a humanitarian crisis.” Their solution? To “depopulate” the jails, of course. But when word of the plan went public, the ensuing outrage caused them to scrap the idea. (CBS Los Angeles)Read More
LA County jails are overcrowded. “Let’s just cut them loose”
