Support for LAist comes from
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Stay Connected
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Listen

Share This

Criminal Justice

LA County Supervisors Vote To Add 16 Jail Mental Health Treatment Beds

The sign for LA's Twin Towers Correctional Facility reads 'Twin Towers Correctional Facility; Inmate Reception Center; Medical Services' in front of a tall, gray building.
L.A.'s Twin Tower Correctional Facility
(
Robert Garrova
/
LAist
)

Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to create a 16-bed facility for incarcerated people living with mental illness in repurposed spaced within the downtown jail complex.

How the beds will be used

The Acute Intervention Module (AIM) is slated to be housed within the Twin Towers Correctional Facility. According to the motion from Kathryn Barger and Janice Hahn:

"It is anticipated that those inmates suffering from severe symptoms of a serious mental health disorder will be sent to the AIM, which will provide short-term, intensive care, evaluation, treatment and further assessment."
Support for LAist comes from

The designation of the AIM space is crucial to the county's ability to meet two provisions in a federal settlement agreement that ordered the county to improve jail conditions for people living with mental illnesses.

Those conditions are:

  • Sufficient housing for the jailed population with mental illness
  • Sufficient licensed inpatient mental health beds

Why it matters

Roughly 40% of the more than 13,000 people incarcerated within L.A. County’s jail system have mental health needs. County-appointed jail monitors as well as jail reform advocates have been ringing the alarm about jail conditions for people living with mental illness.

The backstory

Last fall, a court-appointed monitor tasked with keeping tabs on jail conditions reported that “given the Department’s existing housing capacity and the population of inmates with mental illness... the County remains far from Substantial Compliance with both provisions.”

Support for LAist comes from

County-appointed jail monitors, as well as jail reform advocates, have been ringing the alarm about jail conditions for people living with mental illness. Last year, one monitor described “Dickensian” conditions at the downtown jails amid a shortage of psychiatric staff.

What's next

The decision to convert existing jail space comes as attorneys with the ACLU are asking a federal judge to hold the county in contempt for allegedly failing to improve what the ACLU called “abysmal” conditions at the Inmate Reception Center (IRC). The contempt hearing is scheduled for June 27 and stems from a separate case.

According to the motion approved 5-0 Tuesday, the goal is to grow the AIM by 32 beds, if it's a success. No deadline on any expansion was provided.

As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.

Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.

We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.

No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.

Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.

Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.

Chip in now to fund your local journalism
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
(
LAist
)

Trending on LAist