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.
Why Were LA Jail Health Care Workers Rallying?
Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles.
(
Andrew Cullen for LAist
)
Health care workers rallied in front of Men’s Central Jail Wednesday to call attention to what they say are inhumane conditions for incarcerated people.
Nurse practitioners, psychologists and others who care for the roughly 13,000 people inside L.A. County jails are asking a federal judge to conduct an unannounced tour of Men’s Central Jail. The action came just a few weeks before a hearing in which the same federal judge is slated to decide whether the county is in contempt of court for failing to improve conditions at the jail complex downtown.
The backstory
Support for LAist comes from
Dr. Timothy Belavich, director of Correctional Health Services, said Monday that roughly one-quarter of the 2,000 budgeted jail health care positions are unfilled.
LAist’s review of coroner's records found 2021 marked the highest number of deaths by suicide inside the downtown jail complex in eight years.
The rise in suicide deaths comes at a time when the L.A. County Jail system is plagued by a number of issues: facilities are overcrowded, jail officials are struggling to maintain a mental health workforce and the jails are out of compliance with court-mandated requirements.
U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson is scheduled to preside over a contempt hearing scheduled for June 27. Attorneys with the ACLU are asking the judge to hold the county in contempt for failing to improve what the ACLU calls “abysmal” conditions at the Inmate Reception Center.
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
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist