Supervisors OK Plan to Open Twin Towers Jail

Despite a last-minute snag that could place in peril tens of millions of dollars in state funds needed to operate the new Twin Towers jail, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a plan Thursday that would allow the Sheriff’s Department to finally open the 4,100-bed lockup this weekend.

Saying it was imperative that the county take the “first step” in opening the long-delayed jail facility near downtown Los Angeles, the supervisors gave the sheriff their final approval, even with a five-year, $137-million state contract yet to be approved by a state legislative committee.

Considering that the state-of-the-art jail has remained vacant for 18 months due to county budget woes, supervisors said they will take their chances with lawmakers-- who must still approve an agreement in which the state Department of Corrections would lease 1,400 beds for accused parole violators at the Peter J. Pitchess detention complex in Castaic.

“There are still a lot of questions,” said Board Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky. But he added: “If we don’t take this step, we’ll never be able to take second step.”

On the eve before voting on the plan, the supervisors learned that the Sheriff’s Department had not yet cleared all state funding requirements--the latest in series of financial bugaboos that have plagued the $373-million jail project.

At the heart of the matter, according to sources in state and county government, are concerns by state legislative analysts--who advise lawmakers--whether the Department of Corrections needs to lease the jail space from Los Angeles County.

“There is insufficient documentation on both the request [from the Department of Corrections] and on the need for the jail beds,” said one state official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Joint Legislative Budget Committee, with input from state legislative analysts, must approve funding transfers when the money has not been not allocated in the state budget for a specific purpose, according to Craig Cornett, director of criminal justice issues for the legislative analyst’s office.

The questions over the pending lease agreement arose in December, when state Finance Director Craig L. Brown sent the budget committee a request that state Department of Corrections funds be shifted from one section of the department budget to another. The vaguely worded letter never mentioned specific details of what the money would be used for, or how much of it would go toward leasing jail beds at Pitchess.

“We are concerned about some of the issues raised by the legislative analyst’s office,” said Annette Porini, a budget committee consultant. “We are concerned about the process by which we were notified. We need some more information.”

Without the state funds--which would account for about one-third of Twin Towers’ operating budget--the county would have to scramble for funding elsewhere to keep the new jail open.

Nevertheless, sheriff’s officials and some county supervisors sought to downplay the seriousness of matter.

“In our talks [with state corrections officials], they have clearly expressed the need for beds, particularly in this region,” Undersheriff Jerry Harper said in an interview. “It’s conceivable that there’s just a miscommunication” between the Department of Corrections and legislators.

Harper told the board that his department saw “no reason at all not to go ahead” with the opening the jail, which has been vacant since it was completed in October 1995 because there was not enough money to operate it.

Under the plan approved Thursday by the supervisors, the sheriff would lease about 1,900 beds at various County Jail facilities to state and federal law enforcement agencies, generating about $37 million annually to help offset the Twin Towers operating expenses--estimated at $75 million per year.

About 500 prisoners from the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service would be kept at the sheriff’s Mira Loma jail in Lancaster, and an additional 1,400 state prisoners would go to the sprawling Pitchess detention center north of Santa Clarita.

Funds from the outside agencies are being counted on to enable the Sheriff’s Department to begin moving maximum security prisoners into Tower One, starting Saturday. The facility is expected to be in full operation by June if plans go as expected.

Supervisors Yaroslavsky and Mike Antonovich said they decided to push ahead with the opening because they believed the state funding holdup is mostly due to communications problems that will be resolved easily.

Yaroslavsky said he planned to talk with legislators to address their concerns. But Yaroslavsky confirmed that state officials have been questioning the Department of Corrections’ need for the leased bed space.

“It is a very legitimate question. But it is up to the Department of Corrections to make its case, and I’m sure they can make their case.”

State legislators are expected to decide after a hearing with county officials Feb. 6 whether to allocate the funds.

A spokesman for Sen. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), who is interim chairman of the budget committee, said Thompson is conferring with fellow lawmakers, including members of the Los Angeles County delegation. “Legitimate concerns have been raised by the legislative analysts’s office that deserve to be fully investigated,” said spokesman Ed Matovcik.