Setting a path for the future of the Los Angeles County jail system, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a plan to eventually move 1,000 offenders with mental health issues out of lock-ups as well as to build a new downtown jail.
The moves reflect the growing debate about how the county incarcerates inmates, particularly the mentally ill, who make up 20% of the roughly 17,000 people behind bars. Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey and others have called for a new approach that moves many mentally ill people out of jail and into treatment centers with hopes that they will get help and avoid committing more crimes.