Sheriff Baca Says More Staffing Needed For Mentally Ill Inmates
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Sheriff Lee Baca asked the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday to fund the hiring of six deputies with specialized training to deal with the mentally ill and six psychiatric social workers in an attempt to prevent violence against mentally ill inmates in county jails.
Baca estimated that it would annually cost about $1.3 million to hire the additional personnel.
Baca said more incidents of deputies using excessive force against inmates with mental illness occur during the evening and early morning hours, when mental health intervention services are not available.
While use of force incidents involving deputies and inmates decreased by 21 percent in 2011 as compared with 2010, according to data gathered by the Sheriff's Department, Baca highlighted the special needs of mentally ill inmates in his report to the board today.
Many of the problems occur when inmates are deemed sufficiently well to be released from an acute care center in the Twin Towers Correctional Center and sent back to the general inmate population in the Men's Central Jail, Baca said.
"Even if they're stable, the fear factor" leads inmates to resist returning to the general population, act up and become violent, he said.
"I don't want to have to use force just to get people back to housing," Baca said.
However, Supervisor Gloria Molina, who repeatedly expressed frustration with Baca during his presentation, said the board needed more information before agreeing to hire more deputies and social workers.
"Write a plan so that I understand clearly ... when they're released (from Twin Towers), what are some of the parameters, how do you release them, how are they monitored," Molina said.
The FBI is investigating allegations of violence, intimidation and excessive force by deputies in the county jail system and an independent commission has been appointed by the Board of Supervisors to review the use of force.
Baca is under pressure to make changes -- long recommended by the county's Special Counsel Merrick Bobb -- to the way the jails are run, ranging from installing more video cameras to limiting the use of heavy flashlights to subdue prisoners and changing the department's recruiting, training and career development policies.
