The vote passed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to cancel plans to replace Men’s Central Jail with a mental health facility has been met with both support and criticism.
On Aug. 13, the Board voted 4-1 to cancel a $2 billion renovation of the facility, which would have turned the jail into a comprehensive mental health facility. Prior to Tuesday’s decision, the plan was supported in an effort to provide mental health service to inmates, focusing on rehabilitation rather than incarceration. The proposal to cancel the plan was introduced by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Sheila Kuehl, who both argued that the creation of such a large facility would simply result in creating just another jail.
LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva publicly opposed the Board of Supervisors’ decision. “The Board of Supervisors actions to cancel the McCarthy contract (the Mental Health Treatment Center design for Men’s Central Jail) is irresponsible because it would leave high-security inmates who are housed in single cells without a place to stay… This is a public safety issue and should something awful happen to a member of our community, it lies directly with the Board of Supervisor’s action taken today,” Villanueva said in a public statement on the Sheriff’s Department website.
While the Board of Supervisors’ vote is meant to divert project funding and not completely end the initiative to address mental health concerns within the prison population, there is a looming uncertainty regarding the safety and security of local communities, including Downey.
Sheriff Villanueva’s connection on the lack of services to the concern of public safety is supported by local statistics, specifically with non-violent crime in Downey. According to city-data.com, it was found that after Proposition 47, a bill that would reduce penalties for less serious crimes, or non-violent offenders, was passed in 2014, property crime in Downey has been on a steady rise after seeing a significant decrease in crime in 2013. According to the statistics collected by city-data.com, there was an approximate 10 percent increase in property crime in Downey from 2014-2017. Cityrating.com collaborates the data showing a sharp increase in property crime from 2015.
In order to address these statistics, the City of Downey became a member of Taking Back Our Community, which according to the city website, is “a coalition of local cities dedicated to educating the public and improving law enforcement’s ability to address the unintended consequences and public safety threats occurring due to new legislation, including Assembly Bill 109, and Propositions 47 and 57. “
It is estimated that about 75 percent of inmates, including violent and non-violent offenders, suffer from mental health-related disabilities, according to a study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
The City of Downey recommends residents to contact their State Assemblymember and State Senator to call for legislative reform to increase law enforcement’s ability to respond to crime.
County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who oversees the fourth district in which Downey is included, voted in favor of the contract’s cancellation but had previously proposed alternate solutions, using Solis and Kuehl’s plans as foundations.
Hahn issued a statement on her public Facebook page, stating, “Earlier this year, the board voted to support replacing Men’s Central Jail with a mental health treatment facility grounded in a ‘care-first’ approach for helping justice-involved individuals with mental illness. This contract didn’t allow for this type of project and had to be canceled. The project we ultimately build to replace MCJ is going to be there for a very, very long time. We need to make sure we get it right.”