Los Angeles County 1963-1964 - California Grand Jury Reports

∼ June 30, 1964 — Final Report 1964*

67 pages 13 recommendations

Additional Recommendations 13

Not linked to specific findings.

R1: The Jails Committee recommends that the Chief Administrative Officer complete negotiations with the City of Los Angeles for the purchase of the Lincoln Heights Jail and the Saugus Rehabilitation Center at a reas- onable price. Both of these facilities are badly needed, and if not purchased soon would have to be replaced elsewhere at a much greater cost.

R2: We recommend that the Chief Administrative Officer complete studies, and expedite construction, of regional jails in the San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley, and the Southern Area, as provided in a master plan on file with the Chief Administrative Officer. The jails to be so located that they will be able to serve several judicial districts, anticipate future growth and eliminate much of the existing prisoner transportation.

R3: We recommend that the Chief Administrative Officer initiate immediate steps leading to the construction of a new women's facility. Sybil Brand Institute is expected to reach its capacity about July 1, 1965.

R4: We recommend that the existing ancient Malibu, Montrose, and Newhall Sheriff Stations be replaced as soon as possible, in accordance with the master plan on file with the Chief Administrative Officer.

R5: We recommend that the Chief Administrative Officer begin as soon as possible the construction of a modern laundry at the Mira Loma Facility large enough to handle all County institutional work, then establish rates sufficient to amortize the investment within the life of the equipment, pro- vide for its replacement and necessary maintenance. This would eliminate the present laundry at the General Hospital and provide room for other needed improvements; it would also replace the ancient, worn-out, exist- ing equipment at Mira Loma, which has frequent failures and excessive maintenance costs. We understand that a comprehensive laundry survey by the Victor Kramer Company, independent laundry analysts, is almost completed.

R6: At the Wayside Honor Farm we recommend that the existing wooden, fire-hazardous, World War I Army barracks now in use be replaced as soon as possible with fire code-conforming structures.

R7: At the Antelope Valley Sheriff Station jail we recommend the construc- tion of an escape door in the east wall of the trusties' quarters, in order to conform to the State Fire Code.

R8: At the Firestone Park Sheriff Station jail we recommend better ventila- tion; also the enlargement and modification of the booking room for bet- ter security.

R9: At the Norwalk Sheriff Station jail we recommend the immediate instal- lation of adequate wash and toilet facilities in the trusties' quarters.

R10: At the Highland Park Police Station jail we recommend that the existing south wooden wall between the desk and jail be replaced with a brick or concrete wall, having a door activated by the desk officer.

R11: At the Venice Division Police Station jail we recommend the immediate installation of heavy metal screens over the windows west of the cells.

R12: We recommend that the Chief Probation Officer furnish the 1965 Jails Committee a copy of his Work-Furlough Program evaluation report to the Board of Supervisors as soon as completed. We further suggest that the Probation Department's legal consultant be requested to furnish in- formation concerning proposed modifications and legislative changes be- fore they occur.

R13: We recommend that the 1965 Jails Committee request that the Sheriff's Department and the Los Angeles City Police Department submit to them reports of investigations relating to suicides, brutality and use of exces- sive force as soon as completed. We sincerely thank the other members of the 1964 Grand Jury for their generous time and cooperation in assisting us in our inspections throughout the year. We wish to express our appreciation to the following officials for their courtesy, cooperation, time, transportation, and explanations, without which we could not have accomplished the work:

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.