Giant billboards, a mobile ad with video and digital messages and TV spots are part of a media blitz launched at a rally in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, Oct. 16 by several groups demanding closure of Men’s Central Jail and more county mental health and drug addiction treatment beds.
The demands of protesters reflect an intractable problem that has frustrated the county, the Board of Supervisors and law enforcement for decades. At the heart of the problem: Should the jail close, there are no immediate alternatives available.
Nonetheless, the activist groups want to see fewer people who are mentally ill or addicted sitting in jail. Instead, they are asking the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to add 10,000 community mental health beds as part of an alternative to incarceration.
“We want to divest from incarceration. We demand the L.A. County Board of Supervisors invest in care. Community care works,” said Matyos Kidane, organizer with Los Angeles Community Action Network.
The groups acknowledge that the county Board of Supervisors are making new efforts to come up with a plan for closure of the outdated facility, as well as add more mental health beds. At a recent budget meeting, the county staff said more money is going toward alternatives to incarceration.
The county’s new 2024-2025 budget includes $626.4 million for the Care First, Community Investment programs known as CFCI, according to CEO Fesia Davenport. Davenport said the CFCI funding has increased by 89% since 2020. This includes $22.9 million in the current budget for better health care in county jails.
The county estimated it needs 250 more beds for people with mental illnesses who cannot live independently. Often they are released from jails or state hospitals and have no place to go, according to county officials. This is far short than the 10,000 beds demanded by the activist groups.
Several groups expressing their demands for more interim and permanent housing for the homeless and treatment for those experiencing mental health issues include: Dignity & Power Now, Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN), Community Care Works and others.
“We want the county to bring online 10,000 community healthcare beds,” said Janet Asante, communications manager for Community Care Works, who led the rally on Wednesday. Protesters chanted “No more delays! Close MCJ!” beneath a billboard at Alameda and Main streets in northeast LA that called for closing the jail.
Asante said county supervisors agree with the groups that more health care facilities are needed. “Where the breakdown happens is in the implementation,” she said. “We are saying they need to make sure departments work together and bring in those beds.”
The supervisors on Oct. 1 held a meeting with department heads, who said they are applying for new Proposition 1 mental health dollars, a measure passed in March by voters. This could help with funding more mental health workers and facilities, officials told the board.
So far in 2024, there have been 24 in-custody deaths at L.A. County jails. A recent death marked the 69th since the start of 2023, according to the group Vera California, which uses records obtained by the county to keep up its count. A report delivered to the Board of Supervisors on Jan. 30 said it would take at least five years to close the jail. Time is needed to expedite cases of those awaiting trial. The county report estimated it would take 1,200 new beds each year to house inmates needing mental health care. Also, the county would have to remodel existing facilities to house more people.
The county estimated that 53% of Men’s Central Jail inmates have mental health conditions.
The activist groups’ billboards are located in downtown Los Angeles, South Los Angeles and on the 605 Freeway northbound in Baldwin Park.
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