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LA County Trying To Help Released Inmates With Mental Health Needs
The Los Angeles County Twin Towers Correctional facility is located in downtown Los Angeles. Andrew Cullen for LAist Andrew Cullen/Andrew Cullen for LAist
As part of its effort to fight the coronavirus, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department has reduced the jail population by over 5,000 through fewer arrests and releases of low-level inmates.
It’s estimated that one-third of those in the jails have serious mental health issues, so the L.A. County Department of Mental Health is working with the sheriff to identify inmates with psychiatric needs so they can be connected with services when they’re released.
Here’s Dr. Curley Bonds, the mental health department’s chief medical officer:
“We have put online a couple hundred extra beds so that people that are getting released from either hospital or jail — to the extent that we can — we try to find immediate placement for them so they don’t wind up back on the streets.”
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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