In the NEWS 2024
LARRP posts relevant news and articles in this section.
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California and Los Angeles County are getting tougher on crime. Here are the maps that show it
LA Times, By Koko Nakajima and Phi Do, Dec. 30, 2024
The stiffer penalties on some drug and theft crimes that voters recently approved with Proposition 36 took effect this month. Weeks earlier, in L.A. County, former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman was sworn in as the new district attorney and kicked off his administration by reversing several policies that his progressive predecessor George Gascón put in place.
Judge holds off on ordering shutdown of L.A. County's juvenile hall
LA Times Connor Sheets, Rebecca Ellis, December 23, 2024
Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall will remain open until at least early January after a judge held off on ordering the troubled hall shut down.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Miguel Espinoza required the Probation Department to appear in court Monday to argue why the Downey hall should remain open despite a shutdown order from the state.
Biden gives life in prison to 37 of 40 federal death row inmates before Trump can resume executions
AP, By Will Weissert and Darlene Superville, December 23, 2024
President Joe Biden on Monday announced that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump, an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment, takes office.
After 29 years in prison, a teenage murderer gets a new start in life from a stranger
LA Times, By Doug Smith, Dec. 19, 2024
After 29 years in prison and a stint in a halfway house, Nicholas Nabors moves into a bedroom of his own with meals and the matronly touch of Nancy Adams, right, a volunteer with Impact Justice, a nonprofit that recruits people to share their homes with men and women leaving prison.
State secures federal approval and unprecedented support to help Californians with behavioral health challenges
Dec 16, 2024, The Biden-Harris Administration just approved California’s BH-CONNECT Initiative, which allows California to provide eligible people receiving behavioral health treatment up to 6 months of transitional rent to support their recovery and initiates a new $1.9 billion behavioral health workforce initiative.
Pastor Troy Vaughn Honored with The President’s Lifetime Achievement Volunteer Service Award
LA Trbune, By Alisha Magnus-Louis on December 10, 2024
A Commitment to Service in the Fight Against Homelessness
Pastor Troy Vaughn, CEO of the Los Angeles Mission, an unwavering advocate for human rights and equitable access to care, recently received a prestigious accolade: The President’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Volunteer Service. Nominated by The Los Angeles Tribune, Vaughn was recognized for his steadfast dedication to addressing homelessness in Southern California.
California voters wanted stricter penalties for crime. Can reformers find a new message?
LA Times, By James Queally and Anabel Sosa, Dec. 6, 2024
Despite election losses, some reiterate that progressive ideas are essential to safety.
After those resounding election defeats, some political strategists wonder whether reform-minded candidates need to readjust their messaging. Many reform movement leaders and progressive prosecutors, however, have shown no signs of backing down.
I Should Never Have Picked Up That Gun
NY Times Opinion, Dec. 4, 2024, By Christopher Blackwell
This essay is part of How to Live With Regret, a series exploring the nature of regret and the role it plays in all our lives. Read more about this project here.
I was 11 years old the first time I picked up a gun. I should have been playing Nintendo or riding my bike with friends, but instead I was in front of a mirror, posing with the nine-millimeter Glock pistol I had just stolen from a neighbor’s house.
Newsom Pardons Former San Quentin Inmate Who Became Pulitzer Prize Finalist
The Epoch Times, By Katabella Roberts, 11/28/2024
Walter Woods launched the ‘Ear Hustle’ podcast in 2017—the first-ever podcast recorded and produced entirely from prison.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom granted 19 pardons on Nov. 27, including one for a Pulitzer Prize finalist who spent more than two decades imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison.
State regulators, advocates prepare to sue if LA County refuses to close troubled juvenile hall
Pasadena Star News, By Jason Henry, November 27, 2024
'We are navigating uncharted waters,' county Supervisor Barger said in a statement. 'We are out of viable options.'
That forced closure seems all but inevitable now after the Board of State and Community Corrections, the regulatory agency overseeing California’s jails and juvenile halls, took no action to reverse its shutdown order during its meeting Thursday, Nov. 21, the last currently scheduled for this year.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón Reflects on Transformative Achievements and a Commitment to Justice Reform
November 27, 2024
Landmark reforms, increased accountability, and a focus on community safety mark Gascón's tenure as District Attorney of Los Angeles County
As Thanksgiving approaches, District Attorney George Gascón reflects on the progress made during his tenure, expressing gratitude for the collective efforts that have shaped a more just and equitable Los Angeles County. Under his leadership, the Office has implemented historic reforms focused on public safety, transparency, and centering the needs of victims and communities disproportionately impacted by crime and systemic inequities.
So you voted to overhaul L.A. County government. Now what?
LA Times By Rebecca Ellis and David Zahniser, Nov. 23, 2024
The proposal, which will bring on an elected county chief executive and nearly double the size of the Board of Supervisors, divided both the electorate and the supervisors themselves, with two of the five calling it a bad idea.
The rollout may be equally contentious.
Is The Age of Progressive Prosecutors Over?
The Marshall Project, By Lakeidra Chavis, November 23, 2024
Some believe progressive prosecutors have had their moment, but others argue that view misinterprets what’s happening across the country.
Progressive prosecutors became a popular scapegoat — even as numerous studies concluded that they have little influence on violent crime rates and that the role is inherently reactive.
Editorial: California voters rejected an anti-slavery measure to end forced prison labor. Now what?
The LA Times Editorial Board, Nov. 20, 2024
The Legislature should pass a bill to remove mandatory work from the Penal Code that doesn’t rely on a constitutional amendment. While the Constitution allows forced labor in prison, it is the Penal Code that mandates it. Only voters can change the constitutional provision, but lawmakers have the power and duty to change the law.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom should also explore the possibility of an executive order directing prison officials to end forced labor.
In a historic shift, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors will nearly double in size
LA Times, By Rebecca Ellis, Nov. 12, 2024
A proposal to add four more members to the five-member board as part of a massive overhaul of the county government’s structure has passed.
With 27 Deaths in 2024, LA Jails Continue Deadly Trend
Vera Institute of Justice, Sam McCann, Nov 12, 2024
What’s killing people in LA County jails?
Overcrowded facilities are the most significant single factor driving jail deaths in Los Angeles. The jail system has operated as high as 16.7 percent over capacity since the start of last year. This means that not only are the facilities physically crowded, but resources are also being stretched beyond their breaking point.
The issues begin in intake, where newly incarcerated people are processed. People who have passed through the intake facilities have described them as “a living hell,” where people are left to sleep without bedding or blankets on floors covered in garbage and waste.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón Announces First Women’s Advisory Board in LADA History
Includes Priscilla Ocen, Wendelyn Julien, J.D. and Kathy Evans
Sierra Sun Times, October 29, 2024
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced today the creation of the office’s first-ever Women’s Advisory Board, the seventh advisory george gasconboard established to foster open dialogue and build more inclusive, trusted, and secure relationships with communities across the county.
“Women encounter specific and deeply rooted challenges in our justice system—as victims, survivors, and sometimes as individuals navigating the justice system themselves,” District Attorney Gascón said. “
14 sent to hospital after suspected overdoses at Men’s Central Jail
LA Times, By Keri Blakinger and Rachel Uranga, Oct. 29, 2024
Three weeks after one man died from a suspected overdose at a downtown jail, authorities said another seven Men’s Central Jail inmates were hospitalized early Tuesday morning following another potential drug exposure incident.
New California Laws Part 1: Governor Signs Bills Focused on Domestic Violence and Support for Victims
Witness LA, October 28, 2024 by Taylor Walker
In the weeks leading up to a September 30 deadline, California Governor Gavin Newsom made final decisions on more than 1,000 bills. As in previous years, we have put together a series of updates on some of the justice-related bills WitnessLA has been tracking this year, starting with bills addressing domestic violence and support for survivors.
Among the newly signed bills was AB 2432, a bill to bolster the California Crime Victims Fund, which has long struggled to stay afloat.
Why California voters aren’t sold on a slavery ban
Politico, California Playbook, By Emily Schultheis And Will Mccarthy, October 28, 2024
GETTING THE MESSAGE OUT — A ban on slavery and involuntary servitude seems like it should be an easy sell in a progressive state like California.
So why does it look like voters may reject Proposition 6 next week?
The LAist guide to LA and OC's many voting guides
The LAist, By Gina Pollack, Oct 25, 2024
As the Nov. 5 primary draws closer, many of us have yet to vote and are looking for some help. We hope you start with our Voter Game Plan. Since we don't do endorsements, we've also put together a list of other popular voting guides across the political spectrum.
LA County’s governing body is 172 years old. Is it time for change?
Politico, By Emily Schultheis, October22, 2024
Voters will decide this fall whether to reshape the powerful Board of Supervisors, which represents 10 million people across the Southern California metropolis.
LOS ANGELES — The most powerful elected body you’ve never heard of might be on the verge of a massive overhaul. Voters in the nation’s most populous county will decide next month whether to reshape the five-member Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for the first time in 172 years, increasing its number of seats from five to nine and introducing an elected county executive role.
Column: Prop. 36 risks creating felons instead of curing addictions
LA Times, By Anita Chabria, Oct. 10, 2024
There are 25 days until the election and today we interrupt our coverage of the national chaos for a bit of California chaos.
By that, I mean Proposition 36 — which depending on whom you ask will provide treatment for addictions, not provide treatment for addictions, stop retail theft, crack down on drug dealers, return us to the “three strikes” era of locking up Black and brown people faster than toothpaste in a Target and maybe even cost taxpayers millions. Or not.
Breaking the cycle: Troy Vaughn's mission to tackle homelessness in LA
Spectrum News, Oct. 07, 2024
Troy Vaughn has dedicated his life to addressing the pressing issues of homelessness and poverty in Los Angeles. As president and CEO of the LA Mission, he says he knows what is needed in order to spark real change in the lives of homeless people.
Vaughn knows it because he lived it: He spent seven years of his life on the streets of Skid Row, homeless and addicted to drugs. Despite growing up in LA in a loving, supportive home, he says he experienced a traumatic break when his father died of a drug overdose. The experience sent Vaughn over the edge.
Newsom’s not-so-subtle Prop 36 message
Politico California Playbook, By Emily Schultheis And Will Mccarthy Oct. 7, 2024
SHOW ME THE MONEY — Gov. Gavin Newsom may not be actively campaigning against tough-on-crime Proposition 36, but he’s doing what he can to help out its opponents.
On Friday, just as the No on 36 campaign prepared to launch a statewide ad campaign arguing that the initiative “strips millions from what’s proven to actually keep us safe,” Newsom’s office sent out a release highlighting that a state agency had awarded its fourth round of grants — an additional $167 million for mental-health and substance-abuse programs — from funds freed up by the 2014 passage of Proposition 47. That money would be at least partially rolled back if voters approve Prop 36 next month.
For The First Time, California To Provide Medi-Cal Services For People Returning Home After Incarceration
DHCS Press Release, October 9, 2024
SACRAMENTO — In a major step for health equity in California, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) announced that three California counties—Inyo, Santa Clara, and Yuba—were approved as of October 1 to begin delivering a targeted set of Medi-Cal services to people returning to communities after incarceration. All California counties are required to implement this initiative before October 1, 2026.
We all want safety and justice, but Proposition 36 is a false promise
Los Angeles Daily News, By Michelle Parris, October 3, 2024
Recently, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors came together to take a crucial stand against Proposition 36—a ballot measure that threatens to take our state back to the failed mass incarceration days of the past while removing funding for reentry programs for returning citizens that are critical to keeping our communities safe.
Community Leaders Call For an End to Slavery in California
Davis Vanguard, By David Greenwald, October 3, 2024
San Francisco, CA – Informing the public that “Our California constitution currently reads involuntary servitude is prohibited except to punish crime. What? That’s still in there. We live in America.” Leaders from the San Francisco community gathered Wednesday on the steps of City Hall to call for an end to slavery.
Few realize that the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution did not completely end slavery and involuntary servitude—it left open the exception for those convicted of a criminal offense.
The 2024 California bills Gavin Newsom has signed into law, and the ones he has vetoed
By CalMatters, Updated Sep 29, 2024
While the Legislature approved hundreds of bills before ending its regular session on Aug. 31, Newsom decides whether they become law. Already he’s signed a contentious package of bills to address retail theft and he agreed to a deal — not written into legislation — to help fund local newsrooms and AI research.
Now the governor has until Sept. 30 to decide on bills passed in the final days, a total of 991; he sometimes waits until right before the deadline to weigh in on contentious ones. And because he controls the fate of legislators’ bills, that could give him leverage during the special session he called on gas prices.
The Future of Prisons?
The Marshall Project, By Maurice Chammah, Sept.26, 2024
Inspired by Germany, South Carolina let prisoners design their own units, write house rules and settle their own disputes. Then came politics.
‘No one interfered’: Sex abuse in L.A. County juvenile halls in spotlight at Senate hearing
LA Times, By Andrea Castillo and Rebecca Ellis, Sept. 26, 2024 3 AM PT
WASHINGTON — Testifying Wednesday before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, Breane Wingfield said she was 14 when, in 2005, she was sexually assaulted in a van by a deputy probation officer employed at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey.
It happened again at a holding cell at the Compton Courthouse, she said. And again, almost daily, she alleged, by a guard at Camp Joseph Scott, a juvenile probation facility in Santa Clarita.
District Attorney Gascón: Part 4 - Nathan Hochman vs. George Gascón
The LAist, Imperfect Paradise Podcast, Sep 25, 2024
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is locked in a tough reelection battle this November against Nathan Hochman. In candid, in-depth interviews with LAist Correspondent Frank Stoltze, Hochman and Gascón make the case for their differing approaches to running the country’s largest prosecutor’s office and differing views on criminal justice reform.
Candidates for office use jail and prison as “one size fits all” policy solutions.
Here’s how to push back
Prison Policy Initiative, by Wanda Bertram, September 24, 2024
Ahead of the November elections, we packaged up the facts you need to push for community safety, not cages.
he arguments for more jail can seem endless. But if candidates campaigning for office in your community or state push the narrative that more incarceration is a good idea — or even a necessary evil — we’ve got you covered. Below, we lay out facts you can use to oppose bogus claims about what criminalization can achieve, whether in regard to homelessness, the fentanyl crisis, or public safety in general.
The big-city mayor missing from the Prop 36 debate
Politico, California Playbook, By Emily Schultheis And Will Mccarthy 09/23/2024
Keeping A Low Profile — How long can Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass stay out of the debate over Proposition 36?
Mayors in four of the five biggest cities in California have endorsed the tough-on-crime initiative, with San Francisco’s London Breed, San Jose’s Matt Mahan and San Diego’s Todd Gloria making it a key part of their political work this year.
CA Ballot Prop Polling:
Podcast: Reform California with Carl DeMaio, Sep 20, 2024
Good news – and bad news in latest poll on CA statewide props! I'll break down the numbers — WATCH!
What’s on the November ballot in California?
LA Times By Seema Mehta, Sept. 19, 2024
Read the LA Times Ballot rundown
What Prop 36 will mean for California’s prisons
Politico, California Playbook, By Lindsey Holden 09/18/2024
The Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates the state would likely incarcerate 2,000 to 5,000 more people in prisons under Prop 36 by reinstituting tougher sentences for crimes like shoplifting and drug possession that are currently misdemeanors. There were nearly 91,000 people incarcerated in California prisons as of Sept. 11.
Here’s how the measure could affect California’s prison system.
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Governor Gavin Newsom signs bill toughening California’s retail theft punishment
Sacramento Bee, By Nicole Dixon, September 12, 2024
Assembly Bill 1960 imposes automatic sentence enhancements for people convicted of stealing property worth $50,000 or more. They will get an extra year in prison. Thefts or destruction of property worth $200,000 or more will result in an extra two years. Up to $1 million will get three years and $3 million will result in an automatic four-year enhancement. The bill also requires an extra year for each additional $3 million loss.
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Guest Commentary: AB1810 Nears Passage – A Landmark Moment for Menstrual Equity in California Prisons
Davis Vanguard, by By Betty Mills, LARRP Program Coordinator, August 30, 2024
Recently, California took a significant step towards equity and humane treatment within its correctional facilities by passing Assembly Bill 1810 through the Senate. This groundbreaking legislation, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership (LARRP), addresses a fundamental yet often overlooked issue: access to menstrual products for incarcerated women.
But this bill is about more than just providing sanitary products; it’s about recognizing the dignity and basic human rights of incarcerated women. Historically, women in prison have faced significant barriers in accessing menstrual care, leading to distressing and unsanitary conditions. As a formerly incarcerated woman who experienced this firsthand, I can attest to the dehumanizing reality many women still face.
LA District Attorney Announces More Than 1,500 Organized Retail Theft Charges Since 2019
Davis Vanguard, By Darlin Navarrete, August 29, 2024
“As LA County continues to combat organized retail theft, LADA has filed nearly 500 charges in 2024 alone, resulting in an 89 percent conviction rate, a 25 percent increase in convictions since 2019,” said LA District Attorney George Gascón's office recently. The 2019 conviction rate was just 64 percent of 135 cases, the DA Office said in a recent statement.
Editorial: Parole consideration for those sentenced to life behind bars 35 years ago? It’s the right thing to do
LA Times, By The Times Editorial Board, Aug. 27, 2024
California’s crime rate began a historic plunge in the early 1990s and has fallen ever since, except for some small spikes, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet it took more than a decade until legislation reflected the trend. Lawmakers continued to pass fear-driven tough-on-crime laws until 2011, based on the mistaken public mind-set that crime was higher than in the recent past.
That’s the background of a heated debate over state Senate Bill 94, a worthy proposal by Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San José) to review sentences for several hundred aging California prisoners who were sent to prison for life without parole before June 5, 1990, in the pre-reform era.
How Prop 36 collided with a prison bill vote
Politico, California Playbook, By Lindsey Holden August 27, 2024
Empty Beds: Assemblymember Phil Ting’s bill pushing the state to consolidate and ultimately close prisons squeaked off the Senate floor Monday night with just 22 ‘ayes’ and five Democrats voting against it.
What’s that, you say? You thought California was all for shrinking the prison population?
Investing in Care Has Kept Californians Safe and Out of Prison for 10 Years. Prop 36 Will Destroy That Progress.
Vera California by Sam McCann and Claire Simonich, Aug 22, 2024
Over the past decade, programs funded by Prop 47 have helped Californians thrive. But a new ballot measure would increase arrests and incarceration.
Progressive California lawmakers rally against Proposition 36
LA Times, By Anabel Sosa, Aug. 19, 2024
SACRAMENTO — A group of progressive state lawmakers on Monday rallied against Proposition 36, a ballot measure they are calling an “expensive” crime reform that will lead to the over-policing of underserved communities and incarcerate Californians at rates akin to the 1980s war on drugs.
Editorial: A shiny new jail in L.A. is a bad idea, no matter what it’s called
LA Times, By The Times Editorial Board, Aug. 16, 2024
There is no disagreement over the proper fate of Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles. The decrepit facility must be torn down with all deliberate speed — just as soon as county leaders make alternative arrangements for the thousands of people housed there at any given time.
And there’s the rub. What do we do with everybody, especially the enormous percentage of people who landed in jail in part because of psychiatric or drug problems?
Democrats show support for crime measure Proposition 36, call for ‘mass treatment’ of Californians
LA Times, By Anabel Sosa, Aug. 14, 2024
San José Mayor Matt Mahan and other local Democratic leaders on Wednesday announced their support for Proposition 36, a crime reform measure on the November ballot that they hope will force eligible Californians who routinely commit drug crimes into substance abuse treatment.
There's a Better Way To Reduce Crime Than Mass Incarceration | Opinion
Newsweek, by By Alex R. Piquero, Aug 12, 2024
What legislators call "tough-on-crime" policies—things like longer prison sentences, stricter parole boards, and mandatory minimum sentences—have been waxing and waning in fashion since the 1970s. The prevailing theory for many years was that increasing criminal penalties and raising incarceration levels would deter crime and keep lawbreakers off the streets.
One of the biggest problems with mass incarceration and very lengthy sentences, however, is that they don't seem to actually reduce crime—at least not at the level people think. And as my own research with Bill Bales shows, short-term incarceration actually leads to more offending.
What exactly is Prop. 47? And how could California voters change it this year?
LA Times, By Anabel Sosa, Aug. 12, 2024
California voters face a decision about how the state should punish people who are repeatedly convicted of stealing, or of crimes involving the deadly drug fentanyl. Proposition 36 on the November ballot asks voters to change certain parts of Proposition 47, an initiative passed in 2014 that turned some nonviolent felonies into misdemeanors.
About that San Quentin prison project...
Politico California Playbook, By Lindsey Holden 08/06/2024
Gov. Gavin Newsom is for the first time using his new podcast to tout one of his pet political projects this week by showcasing a rehabilitation program at San Quentin state prison.
But it’s a controversial program to feature — namely because it’s been a divisive spending choice from the start and has been scaled back in recent months.
‘Pendulum has swung’: Supervisors signal shift on Men’s Central Jail closure plan
LA Times, By Keri Blakinger and Rebecca Ellis, Aug. 5, 2024
In the summer of 2019, justice reformers celebrated because the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors scrapped a controversial $1.7-billion plan to replace the county’s oldest lockup — the dungeon-like Men’s Central Jail on Bauchet Street — with a jail-like mental health facility.
Five years later, there are roughly 5,000 fewer inmates — but Men’s Central Jail is still open. And at the state level, the tides are changing, as voters are set to consider increasing the penalties for low-level theft and some drug crimes, both moves that could balloon the jail population.
Jails in ‘Crisis’: Dead Bodies Pile Up in Sacramento County Jails – 5th Pretrial Death in Less Than 3 Months Sparks Calls for Independent Review
Davis Vanguard, By Cres VellucciAugust 5, 2024
SACRAMENTO, CA – As the dead bodies of those housed in Sacramento County jails pile up—five in less than three months since May, the latest in late July—advocates are charging the facilities are in “crisis.”
The death of 40-year-old Asaiah Germone Washington July 26 was the fifth in-custody death in the last 12 weeks. Three other inmate deaths occurred May 5, May 12 and June 8 at the downtown facility; another man died June 28 at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center near Elk Grove.
Removing Barriers to Family Reunification in LA County
Witness LA, August 3, 2024 by Taylor Walker
On Tuesday, July 23, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion focused on removing barriers to family reunification for parents and their children in foster care.
The motion, by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Janice Hahn, focuses particularly on helping parents who are incarcerated and thus, unable to participate in court-ordered reunification programs. Parents in jail and prison are far more likely to lose their legal parental rights than their peers in the community.
L.A. County supervisors reaffirm policy against jailing homeless people after anticamping high court ruling
LA Times, By Paloma Esquivel, July 30, 2024
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to support a motion affirming that its jails won’t be used to hold homeless people arrested in the enforcement of anticamping ordinances.
Inmates fight against working in extreme heat
Judge has challenged treatment of mostly Black prisoners at former plantation.
LA Times, By Margie Mason and Robin McDowell, July 28, 2024
Beneath the blazing summer sun on a former slave plantation, Lamont Gross and fellow prisoners stooped in long rows, picking vegetables by hand under the watchful eyes of armed guards on horseback. He said breaks were short and infrequent, with nothing to protect workers from the heat.
“I saw guys collapse,” Gross said of his days on the so-called farm line at Louisiana’s state penitentiary, where men work for pennies an hour or nothing at all and face punishment if they refuse.
Clear Encampments? Mind Your Own Business, Los Angeles Says.
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s declaration urging cities to clear homeless camps met its strongest opposition in Los Angeles.
NYTimes, By Michael Corkery and Jill Cowan, July 26, 2024
Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared this week wearing work gloves and Ray-Ban sunglasses as he hauled a garbage bag from under a freeway overpass in California. His message was obvious: He wanted state and local officials to clear out homeless encampments, just as he was doing, and he had signed an executive order to spur them into action.
Hours later, the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, responded with her own set of visuals from a different encampment cleanup in the nation’s second-largest city.
Guard at 'rape club' prison faces new charges of sexually abusing inmates
LA Times, by Richard Winton, July 26, 2024
A new indictment accuses a former correctional officer at a now-shuttered federal women's prison in California dubbed the "rape club" of abusing more female inmates.
A federal grand jury issued a superseding indictment Thursday charging Darrell Wayne Smith with 15 counts of sexual abuse, including a civil rights violation, against five women who were incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, Calif., in the East Bay. Smith, known to detainees as "Dirty Dick," had previously been indicted of sexually abusing three female inmates. He is accused of sexually abusing the women in their cells and a laundry facility between 2016 and 2021.
Overdose deaths plateau
Greater availability of naloxone may be helping
LA Times, By Megan Botel, July 24, 2024
The numbers: This week, the county Department of Public Health announced a 4% decrease last year in the number of fatalities from drug overdoses or poisoning compared to the previous year. Those numbers were: 3,092 deaths in 2023; down from 3,220 in 2022.
With 18 Deaths in 2024, LA Jails Continue Deadly Trend
Sixty-three people have died in LA County jails since the start of 2023.
Vera, Sam McCann, Jul 23, 2024
Another person has died in Los Angeles County jails, marking the 18th in-custody death so far this year and the 63rd since the start of 2023.
That staggering number far exceeds that of New York City Department of Correction facilities, where the rising number of deaths at the Rikers Island jail complex has led to a mounting crisis that has received nationwide attention.
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Frustrated Californians May Be Ready for a Tougher Approach to Crime
Shoplifting and fentanyl use have tested the patience of California voters, who will decide in November whether to impose stricter laws that would lead to more incarceration.
NYTimes, By Tim Arango, July 23, 2024
Californians of all political stripes have become fed up with the problems plaguing supermarkets and retail stores, not to mention car break-ins and open-air drug use. Some top Democrats, including Mayor London Breed of San Francisco, have joined conservatives in denouncing a cascade of smaller crimes that have contributed to a sense of lawlessness in major cities. Now the state’s lawmakers and voters are weighing what to do.
Why homelessness has more than doubled in LA County’s once-affordable northern desert
The Antelope Valley has seen a worrisome rise in homelessness. Most are living unsheltered in inhospitable conditions.
The LAist, By David Wagner, Jul 22, 2024
When the results of Los Angeles County’s most recent homeless count showed the number of unhoused people holding steady, elected leaders celebrated. The news brought some relief after years of increases. Lost amid the cheers were the much more dire numbers coming out of the Antelope Valley, where homelessness rose 42% in the last year alone.
Can chess games and toilet paper change prison culture? Inside San Quentin’s big experiment
LA Times, By Hannah Wiley, Photography by Robert Gauthier, July 19, 2024
SAN QUENTIN — To someone living outside these dank walls, the changes might seem small.
A sergeant greets a prisoner with “good morning” rather than barking an order. Guards start calling the prisoners “residents.” They shake hands, exchange jokes.
The toilet paper locker gets replenished when it’s empty. The men don’t have to ask
The crime wave is over but Republicans can’t let go
The GOP is still pretending that crime is spiraling out of control.
VOX, by Abdallah Fayyad, Jul 17, 2024
While there was indeed a rise in crime during the pandemic, recent data has shown that crime is declining nationwide. According to the FBI, murder is down 26 percent and robberies have declined by 18 percent in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same time last year. That didn’t stop Republican speakers throughout the night from singling out incidents of heinous crimes and drug overdoses to conjure up an image of lawlessness and disorder.
Is it time for the feds to investigate wrongdoing in the LA County’s jails—again?
Witness LA, July 19, 2024 by Celeste Fremon
On December 9, 2013, slightly more than a decade from today, the The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, filed five criminal cases for a total of 18 indictments against members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
It would be wonderful to think that the high-profile convictions would have a transformative effect on the culture of the world’s fourth largest jail system.
Yet, while some changes were made, a recent letter sent to Martin Estrada, the present U. S. Attorney of the Central District of California, suggests that the county has a painfully long way to go.
Opinion: The mental health crisis hotline is working. So why doesn’t it get the funding it needs?
LA Times By Chuck Ingoglia, July 16, 2024
The 988 suicide and crisis lifeline remains one of the most significant, easily accessible resources ever created to help people in crisis. So two years after its launch, why aren’t states investing more to meet the demand for its services?
As inmates swelter, California prisons remain unprepared for extreme heat
LA Times, By Hayley Smith, July 13, 2024
The potential heat-related death of a prison inmate in California’s Central Valley this week is focusing renewed attention on conditions within correctional institutions as extreme heat, wildfire smoke and flooding pose increasing threats to incarcerated people.
Long-Awaited Report by Little Hoover Commission Seeks Better Data Collections on Retail Theft
Davis Vanguard, by David Greenwald, July 12, 2024
Sacramento, CA – The Little Hoover Commission conducted an examination of California’s response to retail theft following a request by 66 members of the state legislature.
A big finding is: “The state should prioritize data collection and collaboration with research institutions as it seeks to understand and combat retail theft in the long term,” the Little Hoover Commission concluded in a new report, Retail Theft: A Data Driven Response for California.
LA County Probation Announces Significant Management Overhaul
POC Press Release, July 1, 2024
The Probation Oversight Commission acknowledges L.A. County Probation Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa’s announcement last Friday of an unprecedented restructuring that eliminates an entire layer of management in the 6,600-person probation agency, the largest of its kind in the country, as a move forward toward reform efforts.
Viera Rosa said flattening the organization will make for quicker implementation of new policies, clearer lines of authority, better internal feedback, and greater transparency. It also pushes decision-making closer to personnel who interact with adult probationers, youth, their families, County partner agencies, and the public.
Two crime measures, one ballot. What could go wrong?
Politico, By Emily Schultheis and Will Mccarthy, 07/01/2024
SEEING DOUBLE — Californians will most likely cast votes in November on two separate crime-fighting initiatives: the proposal backed by prosecutors and big-box retailers that qualified for the ballot last week, and a counter-measure from Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic leaders making its way through the Legislature this week.
Both include changes to charging and sentencing rules around drugs and retail theft, but Newsom’s initiative goes further in terms of gamesmanship. Its drafters have included a provision stating it would nullify the prosecutors’ crime initiative if both measures pass and Newsom’s receives more votes, setting up an unlikely horse race between two questions on the same ballot.
Ballot measure madness: How California lawmakers are scrambling the November list
CalMatters, By Alexei Koseff, Jun 28, 2024
A flurry of dealmaking, largely brokered by the office of Gov. Gavin Newsom, is radically transforming the November ballot at the last minute, with agreements to withdraw a record number of measures before a key deadline this week and potentially even more changes yet to come next week.
Against a backdrop of Democratic anxiety over voter turnout and campaign resources for the November election — where California could play a crucial role in helping Democrats win back control of the U.S. House — Newsom and legislative leaders have maneuvered to reshape the swath of issues that voters will decide this fall.
Supreme Court rules cities may enforce laws against homeless encampments
LA Times, By David G. Savage, June 28, 2024
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Friday that cities in California and the West may enforce laws restricting homeless encampments on sidewalks and other public property.
L.A. County juvenile halls are so violent that many officers are skipping work
LA TimesBy Rebecca Ellis, June 27, 2024 3 AM PT
On the night that a young person stole a key, scaled a wall and briefly escaped, 100 probation officers were scheduled to work at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall.
About 60 of them never showed up.
California lawmakers add measure to end forced prison labor to the November ballot
LA Times, By Anabel Sosa, June 27, 2024
If passed by voters, the ballot measure would end mandatory work requirements for state prisoners, instead making jobs for those incarcerated voluntary.
“The current practice of forced labor does not prepare incarcerated people for success upon reentry and often prevents rehabilitative services,” said Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) during Thursday’s floor session. “Let us take this step to restore some dignity and humanity for the often forgotten individuals behind bars.”
An Ankle Monitor Gives a False Taste of Freedom
Vera Institue for Justice, Wesley Vaughan, Jun 25, 2024
“I spent 30 months on an ankle monitor. It felt crueler than jail.”
Parole and probation are far from benign—they are the silent giants fueling mass incarceration in this country. One of the weapons parole and probation departments use to perpetuate the cycle of incarceration is the electronic monitor, and it is emblematic of how “community supervision” has strayed so far from its intended purpose of rehabilitation and reintegration. Currently, almost exclusively, its primary function is one of surveillance. A surveillance department ready to strike at the least possible incarcerating infraction on the long list of mainly arbitrary and ambivalent rules.
Tinisch Hollins on the Rollback Attempt of Prop 47
Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 240: Davis Vanguard, June 24, 2024
A decade ago, California voters passed Prop. 47 which reduced the punishment of simple drug possession and petty theft to misdemeanors, while raising the felony threshold from $400 to $950 for petty theft.
From the start, the measure passed by the voters has garnered criticism from law enforcement and other tough-on-crime groups and has been blamed for the rise in fentanyl use as well as a rash of high-profile retail thefts and smash and grabs.
However, as Tinisch Hollins, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice, the state’s leading public safety advocacy organization, told the Vanguard—this is a false narrative
Gov. Newsom, Legislative leaders consider putting new crime initiative on November ballot
KCRA, Ashley Zavala, Jun 22, 2024
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —Gov. Gavin Newsom and some Democratic lawmakers are now considering placing a crime-related measure on the November ballot to compete with an initiative that has already qualified meant to enhance penalties for drug traffickers and repeat thieves. Five sources close to the situation, but who are unauthorized to speak publicly about it, confirmed to KCRA 3 the new initiative is an effort to continue negotiating the measure that would reform parts of Proposition 47 off of the November ballot.
The scheme to break up the anti-Prop 47 coalition
Politico, California Playbook, By Emily Schultheis, Will Mccarthy, 06/10/2024
Prosecutors and retailers worked together to qualify an initiative rolling back parts of the decade-old criminal-justice reform known as Proposition 47. The big question this week: How long can rural sheriffs and the board of Walmart share a common vision for fighting crime?
Now Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic leaders are scheming to get the measure off the ballot by pulling the coalition partners in opposite directions. The Democratic-led Legislature is moving forward with a suite of bills addressing many of the retailers’ concerns, with a new crime category for serial theft and a crackdown on the resale of stolen goods.
Nobody Checked On Us,
Witness LA, June 17, 2024, by By Sergio Coronel
I was released from the old Fresno Juvenile Hall when I was thirteen. I had no reentry plan or support for coming back to my varrio, a neighborhood that needed more programs and care for youth. There were two churches in the varrio, but they never helped us out. The members would stare at us as we walked by, and I always felt judged. So, I went back to the only social group where I felt protected, respected, seen, heard, loved, and like I belonged to something: the gang.
Helping former Inmates, addicts or homeless People rebuild their lives
CBS News, June 16th 2024
Story about LARRP Steering Committee Member Center for Living and Learning
The Justice, Care and Opportunities Department (JCOD) wins 4 Awards!
JCOD’s Justice Connect Support Center, Incubation Academy, D.O.O.R.S and LACTC Earn National Achievement Awards
LOS ANGELES, June 10, 2024– The Justice, Care and Opportunities Department (JCOD) was recently recognized with four 2024 Achievement Awards from the National Association of Counties (NACo) for JCOD’s Justice Connect Support Center, Incubation Academy, Developing Opportunities and Offering Reentry Solutions (D.O.O.R.S) and Los Angeles County Training Center (LACTC). The awards honor innovative, effective County government programs that strengthen services for residents.
Why California Is Swinging Right on Crime
The Atlantic, By Conor Friedersdorf, JUNE 9, 2024
Viral videos and their outraging, perception-changing, galvanizing effects may have propelled both outraged skepticism of tough-on-crime tactics and the backlash to it.
LA County Presents - One on One; JCOD Director Judge Songhai Armstead (Ret.)
LA County Channel LA36, Jun 7, 2024
Watch the insightful interview with JCOD Director Judge Songhai Armstead (Ret.) with Naibe Reynoso on LA County Presents - One on One and learn about the critical work of JCOD, the innovative programs supporting justice-involved individuals and the department's ongoing efforts to promote equity, justice and community support across LA County.
Editorial: Clean California is ending. So are jobs for formerly homeless and incarcerated people
By The LA Times Editorial Board, June 6, 2024
In the three years since Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the Clean California initiative, massive amounts of litter and trash have been hauled away from state highways and the land around them by thousands of people who might not otherwise have found work.
Inmate hung a noose. Jailers too busy watching ‘explicit video’ to intervene, inspectors say
LA Times, By Keri Blakinger, June 5, 2024
When a pair of oversight inspectors walked up to one of the deputies’ stations inside Men’s Central Jail last month, they were already exasperated. During their visit to the high-security unit, the inspectors later wrote in their report, they’d been concerned to see a noose in one of the cells.
They were even more concerned when they realized a jailer had walked by for a safety check and ignored it.
Feds Closed a Prison Notorious for Abuse. Things Only Got Worse
Rolling Stone, By Lisa Fernandez, June 5, 2024
Dozens of women were assaulted at the Federal Correctional Institute in Dublin, California, before it was shut down. Now, prisoners are facing “mass retaliation and bullying”
LARRP cosponsored Assembly Bill 1810
For some incarcerated women, getting ahold of menstrual products is a nightmare
LA Times, By Anabel Sosa and Keri Blakinger, June 2, 2024
One of the things Alissa Moore remembers clearly from her time in prison is how the guards taunted her when she asked for a tampon. Sometimes they’d outright refuse. Other times they’d ask her to come to a closet or a back room, where she said, on several occasions, she was sexually assaulted.
Why a ‘reimagined’ detention system for juveniles has stalled in LA County
Los Angeles Daily News, By Jason Henry, Pasadena Star News, June 2, 2024
The proposal, dubbed “Youth Justice Reimagined,” was developed over more than a year by a working group that included advocates, law enforcement, defense attorneys and prosecutors. The most dramatic reform would take juvenile detention out of the control of the Probation Department in light of its “history of reform failures” and instead place it under Youth Development’s oversight.
Now, that reform may never come to fruition due to unexpected legal constraints, while other key components of the policy inch forward, years behind schedule.
Juvenile hall fight videos raise question: Can L.A. County probation reports be trusted?
LA Times, By James Queally, May 30, 2024
The report from L.A. County probation officer Tanesha Brooks described a series of fights during breakfast inside Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall last December. One teenager, she wrote, got into eight separate altercations in just seven minutes. But key details were missing from the document
Yes, Criminal Justice Reform Is Still a 'Thing,' and It Might Be Yours | Opinion
Newsweek, By Marc A. Levin, Chief Policy Counsel for the Council on Criminal Justice, May 29, 2024
As President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump prepare for their first debate, one commonality is that each has in some contexts backed criminal justice "reform." Biden is enumerating his executive actions on policing and touting billions made available for violence prevention. Trump embraced his signing of the First Step Act in a Super Bowl ad and more recently on the campaign trail in portraying himself to Black voters as someone who understands what it is like to be a victim of the criminal justice system.
Debunking the Myth of the ‘Migrant Crime Wave’
Brennan Center for Justice, by Brianna Seid, Rosemary Nidiry, Ram Subramanian, May 29, 2024
The research does not support the view that immigrants commit crime or are incarcerated at higher rates than native-born Americans. In fact, immigrants might have less law enforcement contact compared to nonimmigrants. Focusing on the facts is imperative, especially given that immigration has become a top issue for voters ahead of the election.
Four years later, has the racial-justice movement lost the fight?
Washington Post, Perspective by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa, May 25, 2024
Four years after George Floyd’s murder, two Washington Post reporters reflect on the retrenchment of the racial-justice movement sparked by his death.
Why LA County Is Spending $1.8M To House People Released From Jail With Nowhere To Go
The LAist, By Robert Garrova, May 24, 2024
The L.A. County Board Of Supervisors approved a plan this week to purchase a $1.84 million building across the street from the Men’s Central Jail and turn it into interim housing for people who are leaving jail and have nowhere to go.The county plans to turn the building at 955 North Vignes Ave., which has 4,760 square feet of office space into accommodations for 10 to 15 beds and round-the-clock staff — part of its Warm Landing Place program.
The move is in line with the county’s larger “Care First, Jails Last” plan, which prioritizes jail diversion programs over incarceration.
Nearly A Third Of LAPD Shootings Since 2017 Involved A Person In A Mental Health Crisis
The LAist By Robert Garrova, May 21, 2024
The Los Angeles Police Department has said for decades it was doing more to de-escalate confrontations with people struggling with mental illness, but an LAist analysis has found little change in recent years.
Potential tough-on-crime ballot measure promises less homelessness. Experts aren’t convinced
CALMatters, By Marisa Kendall And Yue Stella Yu, May 20, 2024
The initiative proponents are calling the “Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act” would increase penalties for some drug and theft crimes, by rolling back Proposition 47 — the criminal justice changes California voters passed a decade ago. It also would force some people arrested three or more times for drug crimes into treatment. But where does homelessness factor into this tough-on-crime measure?
L.A.’s accidental homelessness ‘czar’? U.S. District Judge David O. Carter
LA Times, By Doug Smith, May 17, 2024
It’s an idea that always beguiles but never delivers.
Why can’t L.A. have a homelessness “czar,” a single person with the power to corral and direct the hodgepodge of agencies, as well as bridge the political divides that stymie government’s best intentions?
Advocates Say CA Governor Should Address Budget Deficit By Closing More Prisons
WitnessLA, May 17, 2024 by Taylor Walker
Faced with a budget deficit of approximately $56 billion over the next two years, California Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed, in his May budget revision, significant cuts to spending on homelessness prevention programs and affordable housing, CalWORKS, child care, education, public health, and climate programs. The governor stressed that he was filling the budget gaps without “proposing new taxes on hardworking Californians and small businesses.”
LA County Probation Puts 66 Officers On Leave Pending Disciplinary Investigations
WitnessLA, May 13, 2024, by Celeste Fremon
According to the email sent by Chief Viera Rosa, the department has released the information “to regain public trust” in the nation’s largest probation agency, “as it roots out employees who cultivate or contribute to a culture of violence, drug use, neglect and sexual misconduct,” he wrote.
New Book:
Excessive Punishment: How the Justice System Creates Mass Incarceration
Brennan Center Justice Program Senior Director Lauren-Brooke Eisen unpacks why our criminal legal system is so punitive. Excessive Punishment contains 38 essays, by 45 contributors — practitioners, activists, academics, and thought leaders — who contributed their critical voices to highlighting the harms of the status quo and providing valuable insight into how we can move toward a criminal legal system that is smaller, more effective, and more humane.
All proceeds of book sales will go to the Women’s Prison Association
California is spending more on fewer inmates. Why isn’t Newsom closing more prisons?
CALMatters By Nigel Duara, May 11, 2024
Gov. Gavin Newsom faces a huge deficit this spring, and he has one especially big money-saving option that he’s not using. California’s rapidly falling inmate population could allow Newsom to close as many as five more prisons, analysts say, saving $1 billion a year at a moment when he’s pulling from reserves to bring the state budget into the black.
Even prosecutors agree: Bringing people home from prison can make communities safer
Sacramento Bee Opinion BY Phil Ting And Hillary Blout, April 30, 2024 5:00 AM
Assembly Bill 2942, a 2019 California law we crafted that allows district attorneys to revisit old cases in which the prison sentences were harsh and are no longer in the interest of justice. California’s re-sentencing law just makes sense — so much so, that four other states have passed similar laws.
DCHS Celebrates Ribbon Cuttings For Crisis Care Centers
DHCS News Release, April 29, 2024
SACRAMENTO — The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) celebrated the addition of two new facilities that will provide lifesaving treatment for Californians with mental health and substance use disorders (SUD). This week saw two ribbon-cutting ceremonies that are bringing new prevention, treatment, and recovery facilities to Los Angeles and Sonoma counties, adding new capacity for much-needed drug and alcohol treatment programs, mental health wellness services, and recovery support. These are the first of many community treatment sites that are under construction now in 49 counties, and even more sites will be funded and built, thanks to recently approved Proposition 1 bonds, in 2025 and 2026.
Restorative justice conference sparks synodal dialogue in San Diego
Black Catholic Messenger, Nate Tinner-Williams, April 27, 2024
Over 100 practitioners, formerly incarcerated persons, bishops, and other ministers gathered to promote themes of healing and mercy in criminal justice.
4 L.A. County probation officers placed on leave due to continued violence at juvenile facility
KTLA5, by Travis Schlepp, Apr 26, 2024
The suspensions relate to multiple incidents of “youth-on-youth violence” at the embattled juvenile detainment facility in Downey, officials said.
Probation Department Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa said these suspensions are part of a concerted effort to “root out” staff that he says are responsible for perpetuating a “culture of violence, drugs, or abuse” at the county’s juvenile institutions.
Nonprofit opens wellness center
Antelope Valley Press, By Julie Drake, Apr 26, 2024
Facility will assist those who are affected by justice system
LANCASTER — Paving the Way Foundation founder and executive director Janie Hodge and guests celebrated a milestone achievement Thursday morning with the inauguration of the nonprofit agency’s new Wellness Center to support individuals impacted by the justice system.
Opinion: California law requires police to fix these bad policies. So why haven’t they?
LA Times, By Todd Fries, April 24, 2024
Dozens of people across California have been wrongly convicted of crimes largely because of law enforcement officers’ flawed handling of eyewitness evidence.
Dignitaries from the State and LA County will converge in Lancaster
on Thursday April 25th for the Inauguration of Paving the Way’s newWellness Center, expanding behavioral health services in the region.
Lancaster, CA - on April 25, 2024 at 10:00am, Paving the Way Foundation (PTW) will welcome
state and local dignitaries, leaders in the reentry sector, and members of the community for a
Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for their new Wellness Center at 1729 West Avenue
J, Lancaster, CA 93534. The new Wellness Center was funded by the CA Department of
Healthcare Services’ Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP), which aims
to expand the reach and scope of behavioral health services across the state.
California to expand re-entry programs for formerly incarcerated individuals. Here’s how they work
CALMATTERS, By Levi Sumagaysay, April 24, 2024
As California closes prisons and shifts its focus to rehabilitation, it is expanding programs that help formerly incarcerated people transition back into society.
The state’s Corrections Department is touting its male and female community re-entry programs as among its most successful tools in helping former inmates become self-sufficient after they get out of prison.
California women’s prison rocked by ‘rape club’ abuse scandals to be closed
LA Times By Richard Winton and Keri Blakinger, April 15, 2024
A women’s prison in California so plagued by sexual abuse that it was known among inmates and workers as the “rape club” will be closed, the head of the Federal Bureau of Prisons announced Monday.
LA Supes Reorganize Men’s Central Jail Closure Efforts
Witness LA, April 14, 2024 by Taylor Walker
On Tuesday, April 9, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion to move the county’s Jail Closure Implementation Team (JCIT) out of one department and into another, and to “empower” JCIT to actually close the dangerously run-down Men’s Central Jail, a goal the county has been working toward for more than a decade.
State Board Allows Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall To Remain Open Despite Concerns From Advocates, Families
The LAist, By Robert Garrova, Apr 11, 2024 5:18 PM
“L.A. appears to have remedied the outstanding items of non-compliance,” said Linda Penner, chair of the state board. “I also feel a need to point out that the problems in L.A. are long-standing and serious and this recommendation was not easy to formulate.”
Center for Living and Learning in Van Nuys Offers Second Chances
by Maria Luisa Torres, San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol, April 10, 2024
April is National Second Chance Month; local nonprofit helps individuals after prison, drug treatment and homelessness
When Maria Alexander moved to LA at age 18 to go to film school in the 1980s, she never imagined the perilous journey that awaited her. Within a few years, she went from a hopeful college student full of aspirations to the depths of despair due to substance abuse.
Prosecutors put men on death row. This California D.A. wants to take them off
LA Times, By Anita Chabria, April 4, 2024
Capital punishment in California exists in law, but in practicality ended in 2019 when Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered death row to be dismantled.
Still, 625 men and 20 women remain incarcerated with death sentences, facing the unlikely but possible prospect that under a different governor, they could be executed. About one-third of the condemned are Black.
In recent months, Santa Clara County Dist. Atty. Jeff Rosen, once a prosecutor who believed in capital punishment and one who rejects association with the progressive prosecutor movement, has been quietly preparing to ask courts to change the penalties of 14 men from his county who are waiting for that ultimate sentence to be carried out.
LARRP Celebrates April Second Chance Month With Resource Fairs And Awareness Raising
LARRP Press Release, April 3, 2024
Second Chance Month has been observed every April since 2017, and it is an opportunity to learn about the vast number of Americans living with a criminal conviction (1 in 3), the challenges and barriers to successful reentry after incarceration, as well as reflect on the many stories of return and resilience.
“Without a second chance and frankly many more, I would be incarcerated or homeless and my children would be without a mother,” said LARRP Steering Committee Member Maria Alexander, who is also the Executive Director of the Center for Living and Learning.
Criminal justice reform is alive. Thank conservatives
LA Times, By The Times Editorial Board, April 3, 2024
The Safer Supervision Act is a bipartisan bill that would shorten post-prison supervision upon a showing that public safety would not be negatively affected.
Criminal justice reform has deep roots in political conservatism. Some of the most meaningful recent sentencing reforms have come from states like Texas, Georgia and South Carolina. The organization Right on Crime and other conservative reform groups draw on religious traditions that stress repentance and forgiveness, plus a deep concern over government expansion and waste — including in public safety and punishment.
Newsom has approved three California prison closures but resists pressure to shutter more
LA Times, By Anabel Sosa, April 1, 2024
ov. Gavin Newsom went far beyond the promise he made in his first year in office to close at least one California state prison. But now, he is resisting calls from criminal justice advocates and liberal state lawmakers to shutter five more penitentiaries.
Days before Easter, Newsom announces dozens of pardons and commutation
LA Times, By Hannah Wiley, Taryn Luna, March 29, 2024
Days before Easter, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday moved to commute sentences for 18 people, issue pardons for 37 others and submit a pardon application for an award-winning San Quentin podcaster, Earlonne Woods.
Why was 2023 such a deadly year in Los Angeles County jails? It depends on whom you ask
LA Times, By Keri Blakinger, Staff Writer, March 26, 2024
Though the number of people in the county’s lockups is roughly a third less today than what it was a decade ago, the number of fatalities has risen so much that the annual death rate has more than doubled in that time frame. Suicides are slightly down after a sharp spike in 2021, but natural deaths are up, killings are up, and overdoses are way up compared to 10 years ago.
Yet no one seems to agree on why.
The Invisible Labor of Women Who Love Incarcerated People
LA Progressive, Rachel Zarrow And Christopher Blackwell, Mar 25, 2024
Just as they are tasked with holding their families together before and during their loved one’s imprisonment, women frequently have to take the lead in picking up the pieces when someone comes home.
California jails are holding thousands fewer people, but far more are dying in them
CAL Matters, By Nigel Duara And Jeremia Kimelman
March 25, 2024
People are dying in custody at record rates across California. They’re dying in big jails and small jails, in red counties and blue counties, in rural holding cells and downtown mega-complexes. They’re dying from suicide, drug overdoses and the catch-all term natural causes.
Gascón Launches 1st Interfaith Advisory Board in LA County District Attorney History
The Davis Vanguard, March 24, 2024,By Cindy Chen
LOS ANGELES, CA – Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has made history by inaugurating the office’s first-ever Interfaith Advisory Board, the sixth advisory board formed by Gascón since he assumed office in December 2020.
Gascón emphasized the pivotal role of faith-based organizations in advocating for marginalized and underserved populations within social justice movements, stating: “Faith-based organizations have long been at the forefront of social justice movements, advocating for the rights of marginalized and underserved populations. Our County is a rich tapestry of cultures, beliefs, and backgrounds, and it’s imperative that our criminal justice system reflects and respects this diversity.”
New LA County fire camp in Calabasas welcomes former foster kids, ex-prisoners
The live-in fire camp offers firefighting training to men seeking a new path in life
LA Daily News, Staff Report, March 21, 2024
L.A. County Board of Supervisors Chair Lindsey Horvath joined the county’s Justice, Care and Opportunities Department and others on Thursday, March 21, to welcome the first group of men who will live in the Los Angeles County Training Center Fire Camp in Calabasas.
The camp is a live-in, voluntary project that offers firefighting training and other training especially to “those who are justice involved, former foster system impacted, and veterans,” according to a prepared statement.
Council takes next steps in reforms for police accountability
2 Urban Girls, 2UG Staff, March 20, 2024
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously today to approve a motion to advance reform options for police accountability, including creating the ability for the Chief of Police to fire officers, and reform and repeal the all-civilian Board of Rights. The motion, introduced by Councilmembers Tim McOsker and Hugo Soto-Martínez, will return for final language from the City Attorney before appearing on the November 2024 ballot.
Evidence Does Not Support the Use of the Death Penalty
Scientific American, by the Editors, March 19, 2024
Capital punishment must come to an end. It does not deter crime, is not humane and has no moral or medical basis
Capital punishment was halted in the U.S. in 1972 but reinstated in 1976, and since then, nearly 1,600 people have been executed. To whose gain? Study after study shows that the death penalty does not deter crime, puts innocent people to death, is racially biased, and is cruel and inhumane. It is state-sanctioned homicide, wholly ineffective, often botched, and a much more expensive punishment than life imprisonment. There is no ethical, scientifically supported, medically acceptable or morally justifiable way to carry it out.
A Hold That Won’t Let Go: A System Lacks Access to Mental Health Resources
Black Voice News, by Aryana Noroozi, March 19, 2024
Over the past decade, the number of incarcerated individuals in California jails with an active mental health case has risen by 63%, according to the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS).
An estimated 18% of the general population has a mental health condition, while that proportion jumps to more than 37% for those in prison according to an analysis by the California Budget and Policy Center. This is true across the full spectrum of diagnoses, including bipolar disorders.
Man Exonerated after Nearly Two Decades Incarceration – Wrongful Conviction Marks 5th Los Angeles County Exoneration in 2 Weeks
Davis Vanguard By Praniti Gulyani, March 19, 2024
Marking the fifth exoneration of 2024, and the thirteenth exoneration under District Attorney George Gascón’s administration here in Los Angeles County, Stephen Patterson was released March 13 after two decades in prison for a South LA murder he did not commit.
What happens to detainees if state shuts down LA County juvenile halls?
No one knows
Pasedena Star News, by Jason Henry, March 17, 2024
The Los Angeles County Probation Department does not have a contingency plan ready for the possibility the state will force it to close its two largest juvenile detention facilities on April 16, a situation branded as "irresponsible" by one oversight commissioner.
Warden is ousted as FBI raids California women’s prison known as the ‘rape club’
LA Times By Richard Winton, March 12, 2024
FBI agents raided a federal women’s prison in California this week so plagued by sexual abuse that it was known among inmates and workers as the “rape club.”
The action coincided with the ouster of the new warden from the federal correctional institution in Dublin. Warden Art Dulgov — just a few months into his tenure — and three other top managers were removed from their positions Monday by the federal Bureau of Prisons. Dulgov was the third new leader of the low-security prison since Warden Ray T. Garcia, who, along with more than half a dozen employees, was convicted of sexually assaulting multiple women serving time there.
The Whole Pie 2024: Women’s Mass Incarceration
LA Progressive, by Aleks Kajstura And Wendy Sawyer, Mar 6, 2024
This report provides a detailed view of the 190,600 women and girls incarcerated in the United States and how they fit into the even broader picture of correctional control.
With growing public attention to the problem of mass incarceration, people want to know about women’s experiences with incarceration. How many women are held in prisons, jails, and other correctional facilities in the United States? Why are they there? How are their experiences different from men’s? These are important questions, but finding the answers requires not only disentangling the country’s decentralized and overlapping criminal legal systems, but also unearthing the frustratingly limited data that’s broken down by gender.
Probation employee arrested for sexual activity with detained youth
Two Urban Girls, by 2UG Staff, March 11, 2024
On March 7, 2024, during an investigation being conducted by investigators with the Los Angeles County Probation Department’s Juvenile Safety and Welfare Task Force into a phone recovered from a youth housed at Dorothy Kirby Center, the department’s Chief Safety and Security Officer became aware of a sexual relationship involving an on-duty female Probation Officer with a male youth detainee.
Read More
The Life of an Incarcerated Transgender Woman
Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 131: March 04, 2024
How does LA County’s new bail system work? And who gets released without having to pay?
Long Beach Post, by Jason Ruiz, Mar 2, 2024
These new so-called “Pre-Arraignment Release Protocols” (PARP) have been in place since October, and representatives from the court updated county agencies this week on the first few months of data, which they say is keeping people who are a risk of re-offending in custody while allowing lower-risk offenders to be released without bail.
Judgment day for LA’s lightning rod politicians
Politico By Melanie Mason, Jeremy B. White, Dustin Gardiner And Lara Korte 03/01/2024
The Buzz — La La Land: (See what is making national news
- KDL’s Redemption Tour
- Law And Order
- Ideological Tests
Defenders of Justice Urges Votes for Non-Prosecutors for Los Angeles Judge Seats
By The Vanguard Staff, February 29, 2024
LOS ANGELES, CA – A group here continues to try to convince voters to elect non-prosecutors to the bench as March Primary Election winds down, noting 78 percent of judges now are former prosecutors.
A 2024 cohort of Defenders of Justice – public defenders claiming they are “seeking to create transformation within the LA Superior Court by ending the prosecutor-to-judge-pipeline” – said Angelenos will have their “final say regarding who they want to sit on the judicial bench for the next six years or more.”
A Wave Of Departures Shakes Up LA’s Homeless Agency
The LAist, By Nick Gerda, Feb 28, 2024
Three top L.A. homelessness officials have left their jobs in recent weeks, LAist has learned. The exits at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) include the executives who oversaw finance and data. Public announcements were not made about most of the changes.
The departures are prompting questions about why people are leaving and whether there’s now a leadership vacuum that affects oversight of homeless services, according to interviews with city and county officials.
LA County watchdog urges disbanding of sheriff's 'aggressive' Risk Management Bureau
Los Angeles Times, by Keri Blakinger, Feb 28, 2024
Oversight officials this month urged the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to disband a specialized bureau they say is silencing whistleblowers, protecting favored employees and downplaying misconduct in the upper ranks.
Gavin Newsom could save $1 billion by closing 5 California prisons, legislative analyst says
Sacramento Bee, By Maya Miller February 27, 2024
California could save nearly $1 billion annually if it closed five more state prisons, according to a new report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office. The nonpartisan analysts are once again urging Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration to cull the state’s prison infrastructure as the number of inmates continues to decline. The savings could help Newsom shore up a projected $38 billion deficit
LARRP's FORMER INTEGRATED HEALTH COMMITTEE CHAIR, DR. ETSEMAYE AGONAFER APPOINTED!!!
Bass appoints LA's 1st deputy mayor of homelessness and community health
City News Service, February 14, 2024
LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced the appointment of Dr. Etsemaye Agonafer as the city's first deputy mayor of homelessness and community health.
Proposition 47's Impact on California's Criminal Justice System
KQED by Marisa Lagos, Feb 14
For the last decade, most Democrats have staunchly defended one of the state’s biggest criminal justice reform measures: Proposition 47.
But in recent months, more and more state leaders are pushing some sort of overhaul of the 2014 ballot measure.
The Power of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors: A Voter's Guide
L.A. County legal spending skyrocketed to $1 billion last year, as Sheriff’s Department settlements balloon
LA Times, By Rebecca Ellis, Keri Blakinger, Feb. 7, 2024
The costs to defend Los Angeles County — and its army of sheriff’s deputies, firefighters, social workers and doctors — against lawsuits skyrocketed in the last fiscal year, according to twin reports released this week.
An ex-NFL player died in custody. His grieving family demands to know what happened
LA Times, By Steve Henson, Feb. 6, 2024
Painstakingly, snippet by snippet, the parents of former NFL and Stanford football player Stanley Tobias Wilson Jr. collect information about the last day of their son’s life.
It’s agonizing work. Wilson had been locked up for more than five months at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles....
California State Senate
By CalMatters, Feb 6, 2024
Here's a look at some of the key L.A. and Orange County State Senates races on the March 5 ballot.
Justice Department proposes major changes to address disparities in state crime victim funds
AP News, By Claudia Lauer And Mike Catalini, February 5, 2024
The Justice Department proposed changes Monday to rules governing state-run programs that provide financial assistance to violent crime victims in order to address racial disparities and curb the number of subjective denials of compensation.
The proposal from the Justice Department’s Office for Victims of Crime, a major overhaul to how states across the U.S. currently handle victims compensation claims, comes less than a year after an Associated Press investigation exposed that Black victims were disproportionately denied in many states
Opinion: California has a $38-billion deficit. So why are we still paying for prisons we don’t need?
LA Times, By Brian Kaneda, Feb. 5, 2024
Facing a state budget deficit of at least $38 billion, Gov. Gavin Newsom should be rethinking his expensive commitment to the state’s traditional system of mass incarceration. While insisting he will create a kinder, gentler brand of California prison, the governor has authorized $1 billion in raises for corrections officers and hundreds of millions more for prison buildings despite a steady decline of the incarcerated population and skyrocketing costs.
A New 5-Year Plan For Closing Men’s Central Jail
WitnessLA, February 5, 2024, by Taylor Walker
On January 30, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors received a new five-year plan for closing the dangerously decrepit Men’s Central Jail without a replacement facility. This new plan isn’t the county’s first roadmap for shuttering the jail, nor is it the most expedient.
Democrats and Republicans find middle ground on California’s Prop. 1 to fund mental health care
LA Times, By Taryn Luna, Jan. 31, 2024
Gov. Gavin Newsom has an unusual ally in his Proposition 1 ballot measure to boost funding for mental health: an outspoken Donald Trump supporter and Kern County lawmaker who co-chaired the committee that led the failed 2021 recall effort against the governor.
Mayor Bass' Progress On Homelessness, In 6 Charts
By Brianna Lee and Nick Gerda, Updated Jan 25, 2024
Here's how Mayor Bass did on her campaign promises on homelessness during her first year in office.
Non-Police Crisis Response Programs Have Been Working. Here’s How.
The Appeal, Meg O'Connor, Jan 24, 2024
After decades of protests over police violence, many cities have created non-police crisis response teams. These unarmed first responders typically answer 911 calls for people having mental health crises. Here’s how they work.
Forty-eight people have died in LA County jails since the start of 2023.
Davis Vanguard, January 20, 2024, By Sam McCann
In the first two weeks of the new year, three more people have died in Los Angeles County jails. Their deaths continue a deadly trend; 48 people have died in the system’s custody since the start of 2023.
That staggering number far exceeds that of New York City Department of Correction (NYC DOC) facilities, where the rising number of deaths at the Rikers Island jail complex has led to a mounting crisis that has received nationwide attention.
LASD Whistleblower Takes Her Case To Trial, While Villanueva Testifies That Deputy Gangs Don’t Exist, & Sheriff Luna Says There’s A New Deputy Gang
Witness LA January 17, 2024 by Celeste Fremon
Wednesday, civil rights attorney, Alan Romero presented closing arguments in the whistleblower lawsuit brought by LASD Captain Angela Walton, against the County of Los Angeles, and former LA County sheriff Alex Villanueva.
DOJ Calls on States To Eliminate Juvenile System Fines and Fees
The Imprint, By Sara Tiano 1/17/2024
Describing people trapped “in a cycle of poverty and punishment that can be nearly impossible to escape,” federal justice officials are calling on states to eliminate fines and fees that parents have to pay when their children get in trouble with the law.
8 LA Probation Staff Removed From Duty For Overseeing “Fight Clubs,” As Probation Chief Outsources Internal Affairs Investigations
Witness LA, January 11, 2024 by Celeste Fremon
On Wednesday, January 10, Viera Rosa placed the eight peace officers on “ordered absence,” until further notice.
“Sharing this information publicly is an important step forward in my commitment to bring new leadership, transparency, and accountability to the Probation Department,” said Chief Viera Rosa.
Safety and Justice Leader: Despite ‘Vested Interest,’ Naysayers Claims False – Prop 47, Other Criminal Justice Reforms Working, Saving Tax Dollars, Lives
Davis vanguard, by staff, January 09, 2024
SAN JOSE, CA – There’s been an “ongoing effort by those with a vested interest in protecting the old, failed approaches of our criminal justice system to spread disinformation about the impact reforms to that broken system have had,” but it’s false, said Tinisch Hollins, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice, which co-authored Proposition 47 in 2014.
Gascón to face 11 challengers in primary
By City News Service Los Angeles, Dec. 31, 2023
LOS ANGELES — District Attorney George Gascón will face 11 challengers in the March 5 primary election, including five members of his office and two Los Angeles County Superior Court judges.
New law has Californians with criminal records ‘quite hopeful’ they’ll finally find housing
LA Times By Liam Dillon, Ben Poston, Dec. 27, 2023
In 2021, four years after finishing her last jail term and living in transitional housing in Riverside County, Erica Smith was ready for a permanent home.
Soon, Smith will have more opportunities for housing, courtesy of a new state law. Assembly Bill 1418, which takes effect Jan. 1, will ban local governments across California from enforcing crime-free housing policies.
How Often Do Inmates Actually Return To Prison? It’s Unclear.
States define recidivism differently, which can result in misleading interpretations of the statistics.
Stateline, Dec. 27, 2023 • Amanda Hernández
Several states this year have reported lower rates of recidivism, showing that fewer convicted criminals are being re-arrested after leaving prison.
But those statistics hardly tell the full story. Recidivism rates across the country can vary greatly because of how they’re defined, how the data is collected and how it’s presented to the public. So it can be difficult to say that, for example, one state is doing better than another in rehabilitating formerly incarcerated residents.
Column: In L.A., a new vision of incarceration proves rehabilitation works
LA Times By Anita Chabria Columnist, Photography By Francine Orr, Dec. 26, 2023
What does something different look like when your whole life, this is all you’ve known?
By the time he was 42 and staring down two more decades in prison, Eric Acosta knew all the wrong things, and this question began clawing at the corners of his mind.
After years-long fight, ex-sheriff agrees to comply with subpoenas, testify on deputy gangs
LA Times by Keri Blakinger, Staff Writer , Dec. 26, 2023
The change of heart comes days after a county judge scheduled a hearing to decide whether to order the former sheriff, who is running for county supervisor against incumbent Janice Hahn, to comply with the commission’s subpoenas.
How Biden Can Tackle Mass Incarceration
NYTimes Opinion, By Michael Romano, Dec. 29, 2023
As a candidate, Joe Biden said he would substantially reduce the federal prison population as president. Last week he commuted the sentences of 11 people who he said were serving unjustifiably harsh prison terms for drug offenses and also pardoned people convicted of certain marijuana charges. Still, the number of people in federal prison has grown during the Biden administration. Despite historical bipartisan support for sentencing reform, Mr. Biden has failed to fully embrace the momentum of his two immediate predecessors...
In L.A. District Attorney Race, Rhetoric Shifts From Reform to Fear
George Gascón is running for re-election in a very different climate, where concerns about crime have overtaken demands for equity and accountability.
By Tim Arango and Ana Facio-Krajcer Reporting from Los Angeles, Dec. 25, 2023
Three years ago, George Gascón rode a wave of collective outrage following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis to become district attorney of Los Angeles by promising to make the criminal justice system fairer and, most crucially, to rein in the police.
Now, to win re-election and stay in office, Mr. Gascón will need to tap into a different type of emotion: fear
Ending Solitary Confinement Requires Cultural Shifts –
Part 3 Of A 3-Part Series
WitnessLA, December 31, 2023 by Chandra Bozelko
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case of Michael Johnson, a man confined to a solitary cell twenty-four hours per day, who was held in solitary confinement at Pontiac Correctional Center, a prison two hours from Chicago.
The Real Culprit In The Overuse Of Solitary Confinement: Prison Disciplinary Systems
Part 2 Of A 3-Part Series
Witness LA, December 24, 2023 by Chandra Bozelko
Among the obstacles to doing away with the practice (which those who have experienced it, including the late Senator John McCain, describe as torture) is the fact that we won’t empty restricted housing units unless we reform the way that people enter them: the prison disciplinary system.
A spare room and a big heart’: Reentry program pairs formerly incarcerated people with willing homeowners
By Daniel Lempres, San Francisco Chronicle, Dec 25, 2023
Philippe Kelly knew finding a place to live after prison would make or break his return to society.
“To become free, you have to have somewhere to go,” said Kelly, 37, who entered prison in 2001 for a fatal Los Angeles shooting he committed when he was 15. “Homelessness is definitely one of the reasons why recidivism with certain types of incarcerated folks is high.”
LA County Supervisors Call For More Data Collection, Staff Searches, And Treatment Programs To Stop Jail Overdose Deaths
WitnessLA, December 22, 2023 by Taylor Walker
On Tuesday, December 19, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion aimed at reducing overdose deaths in LA County jails.
In their motion, Supervisors Hilda Solis and Janice Hahn note that each year between 2018 and 2022, an average of 37.8 people died in the jails. Approximately 20 percent of those people died due to an overdose, according to the coroner’s office. At least 46 people have died in LA County jails in 2023, so far.
What Now with Trevor Noah
December 20, 2023
Trevor sits down with Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass on the anniversary of her first year in office. In 2022, Bass upset a well-financed opponent to win the election and return to the city where her activism began. Mayor Bass discusses her work as a high school student on Bobby Kennedy’s campaign, why she cut a London trip short because of Angela Davis, LA’s homeless crisis, and whether she’d ever run for President.
LISTEN Now (Interview begins about 11 minutes in)
Seeking redemption: A death row inmate’s journey into L.A. County’s largest psych ward
LA Times, By Thomas Curwen, Photography by Irfan Khan, Dec. 13, 2023
The yelling surprised no one. Yet still Craigen Armstrong was concerned.
Ray was always acting out. This time he had just come back from medical and was standing at the glass wall, screaming at the sheriff’s deputies on the other side. He was furious, accusing one of them of sleeping with his wife.
New Laws Part 5 – Crime And Courts
Witness LA, December 12, 2023 by Taylor Walker
This fall, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed and vetoed hundreds of bills. As the new year draws closer, we move to the next part in our series sharing the fates of noteworthy justice-related bills that made it to the governor’s desk in 2023.
Earlier stories in this series looked at bills addressing conditions of incarceration in California, policing issues, youth justice, and assistance for crime survivors. In this latest story, we’ll look at bills related to crime and the court system.
Cities Embrace Civilian-Led Public Safety Solutions
Vera, by Nazish Dholakia Senior Writer, Dec 12, 2023
Albuquerque, N.M., and Richmond, Calif., are among cities across the U.S. piloting new initiatives—and working to create safer communities.
Albuquerque Community Safety’s creation is part of a recent nationwide push to develop and invest in proactive and non-punitive solutions that can reduce violence and promote safety. More than half of the 48 centralized government offices of violence prevention or neighborhood safety currently in operation were established since 2020, and at least 10 more are in the works, according to Vera’s recent report, Coordinating Safety: Building and Sustaining Offices of Violence Prevention and Neighborhood Safety. According to the report, these offices, which can serve as the hub for a city or county’s public safety services, “have the potential to radically transform governmental approaches to public safety.”
Newsom's Push for Mental Health Treatment
Fox News, Elex Michaelson, Dec 9, 2023
Chesa Boudin’s radical life made him a lightning rod for the progressive prosecutor movement
LA Times By Miriam Pawel, March 30, 2022
...San Francisco voters’ verdict on Boudin will reverberate far beyond the city’s 47 square miles, including in Los Angeles, where Dist. Atty. George Gascón faces a potential recall. Because if you can’t make radical change in San Francisco, what future does the progressive prosecutor movement have?...
Psychological Evaluations And Other Subjective Assessments Contribute To Racial Disparities In Parole Decisions, Says Report
WitnessLA, March 25, 2022 by Taylor Walker
Subjective professional assessments — like psychological evaluations, prosecutors’ recommendations, and behavioral reports — are responsible for just under half of the racial disparities in parole decisions in California, according to research published in the journal “Law and Social Inquiry.”
Column: Villanueva’s beef with firefighters, the L.A. Times, Gascón, ‘Latinx’ and more
LA Times By Gustavo Arellano, March 24, 2022
The ostensible purpose of my sit-down with Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva was to talk about his department’s Latino makeup and outlook. It took a bizarre detour when he began to offer random, tone-deaf pronouncements about the Black community for reasons known only to him.
Column: L.A. County’s sheriff has a strange obsession with how much media coverage Black people get
Column: L.A. County’s sheriff leans on his Latino identity. Does he exemplify our worst traits?
Newsletter: Essential California: Gustavo talks with Sheriff Villanueva; desmadre happens
LA County’s Civilian Oversight Commission Launches Full-Scale Investigation Into LA County’s Deputy Gang Problem
WitnessLA, March 24, 2022 by Celeste Fremon
On Thursday, March 24, Sean Kennedy, the chair of Los Angeles County Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission or COC, announced that the commission will launch a full-scale investigation into the deputy gangs that have plagued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and many of the communities it polices, for around 50 years. The COC-launched investigation will include a team of high-profile lawyers who will conduct the probe on a pro bono basis.
Waiting to Go to Court Shouldn’t Be a Death Sentence
Vera Institute of Justice, Think Justice Blog, From the President, March 18, 2022
Tarz Youngblood, the first person to die in New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex in 2022, was a father of three—two three-year-old twins and a six-year-old. At the time of his death, he was presumed innocent of the crimes for which he was charged and was being held on $10,000 bail. Unable to pay, he had spent more than six months waiting for trial in hellish conditions.
Randomized Trial Shows Criminal Justice Fees Heighten Hardship For Defendants, Are Not Deterrents, And Offer Negligible Benefit To Counties
Witness LA, March 12, 2022 by Taylor Walker
George Gascón wouldn’t compromise, until he did. Now, no one is happy
By LA Times Today Staff El Segundo, Mar. 11, 2022
In an interview for “LA Times Today,” District Attorney Gascón spoke with host Lisa McRee about his reforms, the recall effort against him, and his plans for the county.
Editorial: Blame it on Prop 47: The latest chapter in an endless work of fiction about crime
By the LA Times Editorial Board
March 8, 2022
Three bills to roll back or outright repeal Proposition 47 come before a key Assembly committee Tuesday. We’ve been here before, and it’s getting old.
More and More Prisons Are Banning Mail
Vera Institute of Justice,Nazish Dholakia - Senior Writer, March 1, 2022
For people who are incarcerated, a letter or photograph from home goes a long way. But more jails and prisons are introducing cruel policies that mean people in those facilities never get them.
How a single case challenged the LA prosecutor’s reform agenda: ‘Nobody is happy’
The Guardian, February 26, 2022 by Sam Levin
The developments show how media coverage of horrific crimes can help derail criminal justice reform
Gate Money” Bill Would Significantly Increase Assistance For Californians Returning Home From Prison
WitnessLA, February 23, 2022 by Taylor Walker
In California, people leaving prison each receive $200 as a release allowance, known as “gate money.”... This post release allowance has not been increased since 1973. Furthermore, if that $200 of 1973 gate money is adjusted for inflation, it represents approximately $30.49 in 2022 dollars.
With these and related issues in mind, California lawmakers now have the opportunity to significantly raise the amount of the state’s release money to $2,589, a rise that is based on California’s cost of living.
The new bill, SB 1304, authored by CA Senator Sydney Kamlager (D – Los Angeles), will now soon be scheduled to be heard by to appropriate legislative committees.
LA DA Gascón Ends Ban On Seeking Life Without Parole For Some Defendants
The LAist By Frank Stoltze, Feb 18, 2022 7:33
In his second significant policy reversal this week, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said Friday he would consider seeking life without the possibility of parole for some criminal defendants.
They Wanted to Roll Back Tough-on-Crime Policies. Then Violent Crime Surged.
NYTimes, Feb. 18, 2022, By Astead W. Herndon
With violent crime rates rising and elections looming, progressive prosecutors are facing resistance to their plans to roll back stricter crime policies of the 1990s.
California lawmakers want to reverse Prop 47; ‘make crime illegal again’
FOX News, By Louis Casiano, February 16, 2022C
As crime continues to concern communities throughout California, Republican state leaders are making efforts to repeal a much-debated measure critics say has emboldened criminals and tied the hands of law enforcement.
State Action to Narrow the School-to-Prison Pipeline
The Sentencing Project, Feb. 09, 2022 by Richard Mendel
Thanks to a $122 billion infusion of federal funds for public education included in the March 2021 American Rescue Plan, schools and communities have the opportunity to invest vast resources in effective new approaches to close the school-to-prison pipeline. The Sentencing Project has examined the plans submitted by every state for use of these federal funds.
Op-Ed: Voters wanted big change from Measure J. Why hasn’t L.A. seen it yet?
LA Times by Megan Castillo and Bamby Salcedo, Feb. 7, 2022
More than 2 million voters cast ballots in November 2020 to provide historic support for Measure J — an innovative measure to dedicate at least 10% of Los Angeles County’s locally generated unrestricted funding toward community investments such as youth and small business development, job training, housing services and alternatives to incarceration, with the goal to reduce the impact of racial and economic injustice.
It is now 2022. What has happened since then?
In short, not much for the communities the measure was meant to serve.
California crime story: The numbers, explained
CalMatters by Nigel Duara, February 3, 2022
Getting a handle on California crime statistics is tricky business, as inconsistent reporting and short-term snapshots can obscure real trends
Crime statistics are a loaded weapon.
They can be pointed in any direction, to mean anything: To law enforcement, rising crime usually means police departments need more officers, or that prison sentences aren’t high enough to deter crime. To criminal justice reform advocates, the same statistics might show that, in context, crime is down, and long-term legislative changes to the criminal code are working.
Santa Clara County Considered Building a Mental Health Facility Instead of a New Jail. It Chose the Jail
KQED by Adhiti Bandlamudi, Feb 2, 2022
Santa Clara County moved forward last week with plans for a new jail, a move sharply criticized by opponents who for years have urged officials to use the funds for a mental health treatment center instead.
Governor Newsom Announces Major Mental Health Housing Expansion to Keep Most Vulnerable Off California’s Streets
Governor's Press Office, Monday, January 31, 2022
- $1.1 billion in new funding for mental and behavioral health programs as part of $14 billion homelessness package
- New state funding for local partners to get Californians experiencing homelessness the help they need
Judge OKs California earlier releases for repeat offenders under state's 'three strikes' law
Eyewitness News 7, Saturday, January 22, 2022
Editorial: Want to stop the prison-to-street pipeline? Pass this bill to provide housing
LA Times Editorial Board, Jan. 20, 2022
...The need for reentry housing hasn’t slowed, though, and California has an unusual, and enormous, surplus of funds, so there’s no reason to delay a program to keep people off the street and reduce criminal recidivism. Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, a Los Angeles Democrat, and several of his colleagues are recrafting the bill to launch a pilot project funded by $200 million from the state’s surplus. If it fails to get out of the Appropriations Committee this week, they will introduce a new bill to accomplish the task. Either route works. It’s time to create and fund the program.
Lesson of the Day: ‘What It’s Like to Leave Prison During a Pandemic’
NYTimes by By Jeremy Engle, Jan. 13, 2022I
n this lesson, students will learn about the challenges facing people released from prison. Then, they will explore ways to support the formerly incarcerated.