To the editor: Gov. Gavin Newsom is correct to shut the California Rehabilitation Heart (“Corrections officers at Norco jail make plea to state to maintain it open,” Sept. 20). It’s pricey and misguided to counsel reopening prisons or jails we’ve already determined to shut.
CRC is unsafe and outdated, with an estimated $1.1 billion-plus in wanted repairs, a historical past of Individuals with Disabilities Act violations and excessive warmth. The town of Norco itself has welcomed closure and is raring to repurpose the historic website for financial growth and neighborhood profit.
Some declare that Meeting Invoice 109 realignment — the 2011 legislation that shifted some folks from state jail to county jail — is overwhelming jails. However the Sheriff’s Division’s personal information reveals in any other case: Solely about 7% of individuals in L.A. jails are serving these sentences, because the Los Angeles Instances article factors out. The true drivers are elsewhere. Greater than half of individuals in custody are held pretrial with out convictions, and hundreds with psychological well being wants stay jailed as a result of the county has did not create therapy beds.
Cease trying to any shuttered jail or jail as the reply. It betrays the communities who pushed for closure and gained’t repair the unconstitutional circumstances alleged in Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s lawsuit or handle why so many individuals stay in custody.
Brian Kaneda, Los Angeles
This author is deputy director of Californians United for a Accountable Funds.
