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ON TUESDAY AUGUST 1, 2006 THE LA COUNTY BOARD
OF SUPERVISORS WILL VOTE ON THE REOPENING
OF SYBIL BRAND INSTITUTE FOR WOMEN
LOCATED AT 4500 EAST CITY TERRACE DRIVE

THIS ITEM IS LISTED AS AGENDA ITEM: 73.

Report by the Chief Administrative Officer on a plan to fully fund the $160
million needed to reopen the Sybil Brand Jail with existing County resources,
as requested by Supervisor Knabe at the meeting of April 18, 2006. Also
report by the Chief Administrative Officer on identification of the necessary
funds in the County's budget to reopen Sybil Brand Institute, as requested by
Supervisor Antonovich at the meeting of April 18, 2006. RECEIVE AND FILE
(Continued from meetings of 6-26-06 and 7-11-06 at the request of the
Board) (06-1668)


Click to See Supporting Document




75.

Recommendation as submitted by Supervisor Molina:

Instruct the Chief Administrative Officer along with the Sheriff to report back before final budget changes with a detailed plan to address community concerns regarding expansion of inmate capacity in County jails; and to include a full Environmental Impact Review (EIR) of the proposed jail space expansion option which includes an analysis of real alternatives, including the cost of mitigating legitimate impacts to be factored into any proposal's budget; also request the Chief Administrative Officer and the Sheriff to create an inclusive process through which residents and stakeholders have a voice in order to devise a successful. (Continued from meeting of 7-11-06 at the request of the Board) (06-1811)



Click to See Supporting Document


VOICE YOUR OPPOSITION ON TUESDAY AUGUST 1, 2006!

LA County Board of Supervisors meeting to be held in Room 381B
The Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration
500 West Temple Street, Los Angeles CA, 90012

CONTACT YOUR SUPERVISOR AND EXPRESS YOUR OPPOSITION
TO THE REOPENING OF SYBIL BRAND INSTITUTE FOR WOMEN

Gloria Molina Supervisor, First District
Tel: (213) 974-4111/ Fax (213) 613-1739
E-mail molina@lacbos.org

Don Knabe Supervisor, Fourth District
Tel: (213) 974-4444/ Fax: (213) 626-6941

Zev Yaroslavsky Supervisor, Third District
(213) 974-3333 / Fax (213) 625-7360
E-mail zev@lacbos.org

Michael D. Antonovich Supervisor, Fifth District
Tel: (213) 974-5555/ Fax (213) 974-1010
E-mail fifthdistrict@bos.co.la.ca.us

Yvonne B Burke Supervisor, Second District
Tel: (213) 974-2222/ Fax (213) 680-3283
seconddistrict@lacbos.org

INFORMATION ON SYBIL BRAND INSTITUTE FOR WOMEN:

Department of Health Services Evaluation of Sybil Brand Institute for Women:
A 1992 evaluation by the state Department of Health Services of the Men's Central Jail near Union Station and the Sybil Brand Institute, a facility for women on the Eastside, revealed that both jails "failed to develop comprehensive plans of care for each patient to meet the patients' medical, nursing and psychosocial needs."
The report, which was part of a procedure to license the jail system, also noted that at Sybil Brand patient health care plans "fail to adequately describe the patients' needs, problems, concerns."
In one case cited in the report, a woman incarcerated at Sybil Brand on Aug. 15, 1991, received a doctor's order two days later calling for a daily change of bandages on an injury to her right hip for 30 days. The report said that the first dressing was not changed until Aug. 23, a day after the woman's wound became infected.

Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA):
During Fiscal Year 1996, the Department continued to protect and promote the rights of people confined in publicly operated facilities throughout the nation pursuant to its authority under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997 et seq.

(1) This statute gives the Attorney General the authority to investigate conditions in public facilities and to take appropriate action where there is a pattern or practice of unlawful actions that deprive persons confined in the facilities of their constitutional or federal statutory rights. From May 1980, when CRIPA was enacted, through September 1996, the Department investigated conditions in 246 jails, prisons, juvenile correctional facilities, mental retardation and mental health facilities, and nursing homes. As a result of the Department's CRIPA efforts, tens of thousands of institutionalized persons who were living in dire, often life-threatening, conditions now receive adequate care and services.
The Attorney General has delegated day-to-day responsibility for CRIPA activities to the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division. Throughout Fiscal Year 1996, the Section continued its efforts to enforce CRIPA by initiating a number of new investigations, filing CRIPA complaints when warranted, entering into settlements to remedy unlawful conditions in institutions, and monitoring jurisdictions' compliance with the decrees.

(2) Responsiveness to Allegations of Illegal ConditionsDuring Fiscal Year 1996, the Special Litigation Section reviewed allegations of unlawful conditions of confinement in public facilities from a number of sources including individuals who live at the facilities and their relatives, staff and ex-staff of facilities, advocates, concerned citizens, media reports, and referrals from within the Department and other federal agencies. The Section reviewed 2740 incoming citizen letters and 360 incoming telephone complaints during the fiscal year. In addition, the Division responded to 110 inquiries from Congress and the White House.
The Section prioritized these allegations by focusing on facilities where allegations revealed systemic, serious deficiencies. In particular, with regard to mental health and mental retardation facilities, nursing homes, and juvenile correctional facilities, the Section focused on allegations that individuals were being abused and neglected; were not receiving adequate basic care and medical treatment or appropriate training and treatment programs; and were not being served in the most integrated setting appropriate to meet their needs as required by the ADA. With regard to jails and prisons, the Section placed emphasis on allegations of abuse (particularly sexual abuse in women's prisons), inadequate medical care and psychiatric services, and grossly unsanitary and other unsafe conditions. In accordance with the procedures established at the inception of the Section's CRIPA enforcement program, which were previously submitted to Congress, the Section prepared a justification memorandum for each new investigation and submitted it for approval by the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights before initiating a formal investigation of a facility.

New CRIPA Investigations
The Department initiated CRIPA investigations of seventeen institutions during the fiscal year. These new investigations involved the following facilities:

• Four Louisiana secure juvenile correctional facilities (Jetson Correctional Center for Youth in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Training Institute in Monroe, Louisiana Training Institute in Bridge City, and Tallulah Correctional Center for Youth in Tallulah);
  
• Eight facilities in the Los Angeles County Jail system (Sybil Brand Jail, Men's Central, North Facility, South Facility, East Facility, North County Correctional Center, Twin Towers Correctional Facility and Century Regional Detention Center);
  
• Beaumont Juvenile Correction Center, Powhattan, Virginia;
  
• Orleans County Jail, Albion, New York;
  
• Mercer County Detention Center, Trenton, New Jersey;
  
• Washington County Detention Center, Hagerstown, Maryland; and
  Central for Integral Services, a facility for people with mental retardation in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.
  
  
  

Amesty International

In 1997, the US Department of Justice investigation into Los

Angeles' jails reported a serious lack of mental health staffing.

The Department's expert consultants believed that the maximum caseload for a "typical" jail psychiatrist should be approximately 75-100 inmates.

At the women's jail (Sybil Brand Institute) there was "at most", one psychiatrist available, with an average caseload of 415 women, including more than 300 inmates on psychotropic medications. There were many more who the consultants considered "desperately need to be seen and likely medicated."See footnote 183 183

In a recent study of women in a California prison who had participated in or caused the death of a battering male partner, many women reported that they were pressured into taking psychotropic medication while detained in jail before being tried.See footnote 196

196

A number of the women reported that drugs were often ordered by psychologists and even correctional officers, people who are not qualified to diagnose the psychiatric conditions for which the medications are appropriate treatment and who are not legally permitted to prescribe medications. Some of the women in the study reported that the amount and mixture of drugs made it difficult for them to comprehend what was happening and adversely affected their ability to function during their trial. Lawyers in California,

Footnote: 196

196 K Auerhahn and E Leonard , "Docile Bodies? Chemical Restraints and the Female Inmate," Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology, Washington, DC, November 1998. These researchers hypothesise that the real purpose of the use of psychotropic medication in the circumstances they studied was to change the behavior of women regarded as deviant, rather than to treat psychiatric illness.

Action Alert!!

Voice your opinion on this important item: Reopening the Sybil Brand Institute for Women