{"id":74405,"date":"2016-10-26T14:18:29","date_gmt":"2016-10-26T21:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=74405"},"modified":"2016-10-26T14:19:39","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T21:19:39","slug":"county-votes-to-move-forward-with-womens-jail-in-lancaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2016\/10\/26\/county-votes-to-move-forward-with-womens-jail-in-lancaster\/","title":{"rendered":"County votes to move forward with women’s jail in Lancaster"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The
The Lancaster jail is a retrofit of a federal immigration detention center to create a more open, campus-like environment offering “gender-responsive programs.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES – Protesters caused the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to declare a temporary recess Tuesday before voting to move forward with plans for a 1,604-bed women’s jail in Lancaster.<\/span><\/p>\n

The board’s vote — taken roughly 90 minutes after the room was cleared — was unanimous to certify the Final Environmental Impact Report for the women’s jail.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dozens of community activists were in the audience, some wearing hazardous materials suits to highlight concerns about valley fever.<\/span><\/p>\n

But as county staffers outlined plans for the $136 million Mira Loma Women’s Detention Center, community members began loudly chanting, “no more jails” and standing up to shout indictments of the plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

Supervisor Hilda Solis, who chairs the board, called for quiet and threatened to call the meeting into recess.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We understand this is a challenging topic,” Solis said as the crowd continued to shout.<\/span><\/p>\n

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas took a turn at trying to calm the protesters, who simply changed their chant.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Walk out on the jail plan, not the community,” the activists shouted. “Reject the EIR.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The supervisors left the board room as the chants continued.<\/span><\/p>\n

Deputies told the activists they would be arrested if they didn’t leave the board room and the group slowly filed out and gathered outside.<\/span><\/p>\n

Community activists have fought the jail for years, pressing officials to find alternatives to incarceration and spend money on community-based programs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opponents have raised concerns about the Mira Loma Detention Center, including the potential for spread of valley fever, a fungal infection, and the distance families must travel to visit inmates.<\/span><\/p>\n

The county has dedicated resources to diversion programs, but maintains that those efforts will not eliminate the need for modern detention facilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Female inmates are currently housed in Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, a high-security facility built for men. The Lancaster jail is a retrofit of a federal immigration detention center to create a more open, campus-like environment offering “gender-responsive programs.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The jails plan “reflects a lot of high hopes for the board,” Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said. “The hope is that we will really have a different kind of incarceration … we’re hoping for rehabilitation and treatment.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Mark Ghaly of the county’s Department of Health Services said he envisioned the women’s jail as a “well facility.”<\/span><\/p>\n

No one involved in the earlier disturbance was allowed back in the board room to comment, but the LA No More Jails Coalition issued a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

“The vast majority of those locked up in women’s jails in L.A. don’t need to be there,” said Christina Tsao of Critical Resistance Los Angeles. “This plan for a new women’s jail promises services and programs that cannot be delivered. … Women need quality treatment, supportive housing, employment opportunities and sustained connection with their children in their communities, not another jail.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Solis questioned how the county would ensure the health of female inmates given concerns about valley fever, which is more prevalent in the Antelope Valley.<\/span><\/p>\n

An infectious disease specialist with the Department of Public Health said the risk of contracting the fever would be no greater at the women’s jail than elsewhere in Lancaster.<\/span><\/p>\n

A microbiologist from Cal State Bakersfield disagreed.<\/span><\/p>\n

“If the county is invested in preventing public health risk, it is not a good idea to have a jail system expanded in an area that is endemic for the valley fever pathogen,” soil specialist Antje Lauer said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking for the county, Dr. Dawn Tereshita noted that the state corrections department, which screens for valley fever in other prisons, does not see a need for monitoring at its state prison adjacent to the Lancaster jail site.<\/span><\/p>\n

Construction on the women\u2019s jail is tentatively slated to begin in 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

At Tuesday\u2019s meeting, supervisors also approved $106 million in funding for a 3,885-bed treatment center in downtown Los Angeles to replace the Men’s Central Jail.<\/span><\/p>\n

Previous related story<\/span>: Community activists oppose women\u2019s prison in Lancaster<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

–<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES – Protesters caused the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to declare a temporary recess Tuesday before voting to move forward with plans for a 1,604-bed women’s jail in Lancaster. The board’s vote — taken roughly 90 minutes after the room was cleared — was unanimous to certify the Final Environmental Impact Report […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":66132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74405"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}