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LA County jails: Read the feds' letter on mental health reform
The Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles AFP PHOTO / Robyn BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)
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Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
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The U.S. Department of Justice has signaled its intention to pursue a court order that will force Los Angeles County officials to pursue remedial actions that civil rights officials believe are necessary to prevent the suicide of mentally ill prisoners held in the county's jails.
In a letter to the Los Angeles County Counsel last week, an attorney for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division thanked the county for "reaffirmation of its commitment to ensuring that all County Jail mental health care meets constitutional standards" but said that the United States Attorney intends to move forward with a "court-enforceable agreement" that will ensure that the county takes all the steps that the DOJ feels are necessary to protect mentally ill inmates.
Below is the DOJ letter to LASD from Assistant United States Attorney Robyn Marie Lyon Monteleone to Rodrigo A. Castro-Silva, Senior Assistant County Counsel.
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