Jails Step Up Training To Delay Early Release Of LA County Inmates
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Hundreds of jail inmates will soon be back on the streets across the Southland — except in Los Angeles County.
KNX 1070's Pete Demetriou reports it's one of the few counties that won't be releasing prisoners early as part of a statewide effort to relieve state prison overcrowding.
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Unlike San Bernardino County — whose jail capacity is maxed out and must release 150 prisoners over the next week — L.A. County still has as many as 1,600 empty jail beds.
Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said the department is finally getting personnel to man those facilities.
"Deputies will receive some training after [graduation] and then they'll go into our county jail system and they'll be able to man those empty beds," said Whitmore.
He also cited lower crime rates and fewer arrests as other factors in helping to limit the jail population.
The sheriff's department has sought to delay planned early releases from its facilities next year by reassigning low-risk inmates to fire camps and requesting state penitentiary officials transfer sentenced prisoners to state-owned facilities.
