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‘Decarceration’: LA County makes woke move to empty jails with slaps on the wrist

April 3, 2023 | | Print Article

A proposal in front of the dangerously woke Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors aims to “decarcerate” the city’s jails by freeing with a citation anyone with bail set at $50,000 or less.

Added to the board’s agenda for a meeting to be held Tuesday is an item titled “Los Angeles County to Take Actionable Next Steps to Depopulate and Decarcerate the Los Angeles County Jails.”

The recommendation was submitted by Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Hilda Solis, and, not surprisingly, both are Democrats.

Under the plan, the county would “[d]eclare the State of mental health services and overcrowding in the Los Angeles County jails a humanitarian crisis, requiring the County to move with all deliberate speed on meaningful solutions; and prioritize decreasing the number of individuals entering the Los Angeles County Jails.”

And how would they “depopulate” and “decarcerate” the lockups?

Well, for one, the “County Counsel, in collaboration with the Interim Director of Justice, Care and Opportunities,” would be instructed to “send a five-signature letter to Los Angeles Superior Court (LASC) to implement the Emergency Bail Schedule that was in place at the height of the COVID pandemic” in an effort to “prioritize increased opportunities for pre-trial release.”

Furthermore, the plan would “[i]nstruct the Interim Director of Justice, Care and Opportunities, in collaboration with the Public Defender, Alternate Public Defender, District Attorney, and in consultation with the Executive Officer/Clerk of the Superior Court, to explore opportunities to provide additional programs and services to expand diversion and alternative sentencing opportunities throughout the pretrial process including, but not limited to, the Early Disposition Courts.”

If passed, the local sheriff would be tasked with reviewing its bail thresholds, identifying those held “with aggregate bail amounts set at $50,000 or below,” and releasing those “in the County jails held on bail for either felonies and/or misdemeanors who can be safely released back into the community” with a citation.

According to Eric Siddall, the vice president of the Los Angeles Association of Deputy District Attorneys, the agenda item is “dangerous.”

“The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ (BOS) motion to gut parts of the criminal justice system without input from stakeholders is dangerous and recklessness,” he told Fox News. “The authors sought no advice from those who know and understand public safety issues. They seek to lower the jail population without addressing the root causes of crime or protecting the public.”

Under the plan, Siddall said, local law enforcement would be given the order to cite and release suspects accused of illegally carrying a firearm, charged with domestic violence, caught with child pornography, or thought to have committed residential burglary, robbery, or assault with a firearm.

And, he stated, the agenda item fails to address how to “protect the community from violent criminals.”

“This catch-and-release program comes without any plan or infrastructure to protect the community from violent criminals apprehended by law enforcement,” Siddall said. “Further, it creates no lockdown facilities for the mentally ill.”

“This program benefits no one, except for career criminals,” he continued. “We need to make sure the most dangerous offenders don’t get out, that first-time offenders don’t come back and that those with serious mental illnesses get appropriate care and help. This does none of that.”

Melissa Fine
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