Editorial Board Of LA Times Proposes L.A. County Surrender Control Of Its Jails

A June 6 report by the Department of Justice stated that the conditions of LA County Jails were “deplorable,” and that the conditions “present, rather than prevent, a risk of suicide” for mentally-ill inmates.  Today, the Editorial Board of the LA Times called for consideration of surrender of control of those facilities to the federal government.  The Opinion Piece, available here -- http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-jail-20140608-story.html -- states that “…for nearly two decades, the county has moved at an unnecessarily glacial pace in responding to long-standing concerns about poor treatment of incarcerated people who more properly should have been treated as patients in medical and mental health treatment facilities” and that “The sheriff and the supervisors ought to think seriously about accepting the inevitable and working with the Justice Department — more closely than ever — to offer more effective and more humane mental health care to people who need treatment more than they need punishment.”