Close Men's Central Jail
TAKE ACTION NOW
People in custody, including those with mental health illnesses, deserve to be treated with dignity and should not be subjected to horrific violence and gross negligence. Yet, almost half of people incarcerated in L.A. County Jails have mental health needs and no access to adequate care.
Sheriff’s deputies are not mental health professionals. Their often violent response to a person’s mental health crisis can exacerbate a person’s condition and undermine their treatment.
County leaders agree that community care must be prioritized, not incarceration. But over three years since the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted to close the decrepit Men’s Central Jail, some supervisors are walking back on their promise and considering building a new jail with a new name.
What you should know:
- Today, more than 5,600 people with mental health needs are incarcerated in the L.A. County Jails, over a thousand of whom are held in overcrowded dorms in Men’s Central Jail.
- A RAND report, commissioned by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, estimates that 68% of the mental health population in the jails can be safely diverted and treated outside of the jails.
- In L.A. County, it costs approximately $180 per day to provide community-based housing and clinical care for people with serious mental health needs—versus $445 to $650 per day to hold them in the County’s jails.
- Mental health professionals have testified repeatedly that law enforcement techniques such as violent cell extractions commonly worsen a patient’s condition.
L.A. County’s violent and inhumane treatment of incarcerated people, especially those living with mental health illness, must end now.
Take action by sending a letter to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors demanding they do as they promised and close Men’s Central Jail WITHOUT a replacement facility.
