Up to one-third of those in Los Angeles County jails can’t get to their court appearances because of a shortage of functioning buses, the county reported on Tuesday, March 19.
A breakdown in the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s inmate transportation system has kept seven jails in the county system overcrowded with inmates who might have been released by a judge, or sentenced to serve time in a state prison — if they had appeared in court.
The situation — which includes Men’s Central Jail — is aggravated by the fact that about 52% of those in county lockdowns are awaiting pretrial and have not been sentenced for a crime. Many sit in jail because they can’t post bail. Others are awaiting sentencing. The average daily inmate population in the system was about 12,177 in 2023.
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors committed to closing Men’s Central Jail in 2021, but the efforts to depopulate the overcrowded, outdated facility is being hampered by what many see as a fixable problem — one that neither the Board nor the Sheriff’s Department has been able to correct in the last few years.
“Transportation should not be a barrier to administering justice. Having individuals sit in our jails because we can’t transport them to court is simply unacceptable,” said Third District LA County Supervisor and board chair Lindsey Horvath, during the supervisors’ meeting on Tuesday.
The frustration on the part of the five supervisors was evident, as they discussed a problem that is getting worse despite their efforts. The board included in its current budget funding for the sheriff’s department to buy 20 additional buses but that had not happened as of Tuesday. The board said it will take up to 1 1/2 years for the new buses to arrive and be fortified with security renovations so they can be used for transporting inmates to courts throughout the county.
In fact, the sheriff’s department has not received a single new bus since 2018, reported First…
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