Keep Bailing

Los Angeles jail officials and staff are planning to test out a new form of technology produced by the military as a weapon at the LA County Castaic Jail. This innovative tool is an invisible beam of heat that will produce “intolerable heat” to those whom it is beamed on.

The heat-beam is officially known as an Assault Intervention Device developed by Raytheon Company. It is said to be harmless and the one inside the L.A. jail is scaled down considerably.

The device works by emitting a beam, focused on the wave of energy that is traveling at the speed of light to produce an intolerable heat sensation that advertently will cause those in it’s line of fire to move. Once the individual has moved away from the beam, all heat sensations cease to exist.

Jail officials and deputies have tested this device and it is all controlled by a single joystick. According to Sheriff Lee Baca, “We Read more »

CASTAIC, CA — 20 inmates along with 2 deputies were treated for minor injuries, when a widespread scuffle broke out at the Castaic, Pitchess Detention Center South Jail at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

At least 200 inmates threw rocks and other items at Sheriff deputies, forcing them to retreat. They also vandalized the barracks at the facility. According to L.A. County spokesman Steve Whitmore, what sparked the fracas is still unclear.

To break things up, non-lethal stinger rounds were shot Read more »

City officials are up in arms about the proposed state budget to build a new jail in downtown Redwood City.  Due to jail overcrowding, a new San Mateo County jail is proposed to be built at cost around $150 million dollars and city leaders are worried that a new jail might put a damper on businesses and developers.

Since 2006, Redwood City officials have rallied against this plan and have gone as far as hiring a public relations company to help cease this proposal from going forward.  County officials have Read more »

An Oakland man who was hospitalized Monday has died after being shocked twice by Tasers while in custody at the Santa Rita Jail. Alameda County Sheriff spokesman, Sgt. J.D. Nelson stated that 50-year-old, Martin Harrison succumbed at approximately 5 a.m.

Harrison was brought to the Santa Rita jail on Aug. 13th on a warrant for driving under the influence of alcohol. While in custody in the jails minimum security area, Harrison was found hiding behind a mattress claiming someone was trying to shoot him. Harrison had allegedly Read more »

You can call it lack of judgement, or maybe even temporary insanity. But whichever way you think of it, you can never really grasp why a 2-year veteran Los Angeles Deputy would smuggle, get this — 161.5 grams of heroin, 51.5 grams of marijuana and 24.4 grams of methamphetamine into the North County Correctional Facility, Castaic jail, and think he’d get away with it.

Former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy, Peter Paul Felix, was arrested in October on the charges of attempting to smuggle the drugs into the Read more »

A report submitted to the Board of Supervisors in Los Angeles County revealed how two deputies were cheating the bar code system by avoiding inmate’s cell checks. The bar code cheating lead at the downtown Los Angeles Men’s Central Jail to the firing of two deputies as well as disciplinary actions for eight other deputies.

These delinquent behaviors, now called the “Scannergate” scandal, are due largely to a March 2009 incident where a high security inmate was found dead after committing suicide in his cell.

Deputies in the jail system are responsible for checking the safety and health of inmates on an every half-hour basis. They are then required to document each check point by using a scanning device that scans a bar code near each row of cells.

According to investigators, after Read more »

REDWOOD CITY — The County Board of Supervisors are in talks for a new jail in Redwood City which has a price tag of $18.7 annually – just to staff and operate. This is on top of the $150 million to merely construct the new facility.

The need for such a large project stems from the overcrowded conditions at the current, Maguire Correctional and Maple Street Jail Facilities.  These two facilities are currently housing 1,092 male and female inmates.

According to San Mateo County Sheriff, Greg Munks, the County currently spends approximately $56 million each year to run the older facilities. The new facility would add an additional $74.8 million to that cost.

To relieve the congestion now, there would have to be Read more »

Currently, the Santa Barbara jail being used is 40 percent over it’s recommend capacity level. Luckily, the State of California, through the Assembly Bill 900, has put up $56.3 million, (70 percent) for the county of Santa Barbara to construct a new jail in North County. Due to the recession, cost of construction will be hard to acquire, however, the Santa Barbara County already owns the land where they want to place the jail.

Even with overcrowding issues, other obstacles are still preventing Sheriff Brown from getting his new jail built. A $15 to $17 million annual budget is required for the operation of the jail, and while the state has already issued a generous amount, there is still $23.7 million needed to build the jail itself. In 2000, voters opposed the building of this new jail with a ballot total consisting of a two-to-one measure, under a lower proposed building cost.

This past Tuesday, Sheriff Brown proposed Read more »

The Los Angeles Police Department’s new Metropolitan Detention Center is set to replace the failing 60 year old Parker Center Jail, but the budget crisis continues to prevent the new jail from opening.

Greg Rynerson Bail Bonds continues with our “Inside the Jail” series this week: Inside the New LAPD Metro Center Jail. Here you will learn:

• The costs and reasons for a new jail.
• Problems at the current Parker Center jail.
• The jail layout and purposes.
• Staffing considerations.
• The benefits of the new jail and the down side.

The $74 million jail is state-of-the-art, but the staffing needs and the city hiring moratorium keep the bars shut. Will Los Angeles make an exception and allow hiring of new jail staff? Or, will there be a major crisis at Parker Center?

If there’s a jail you’d like to “go inside,” let us know and we’ll add it to our series.

A new rule has been put into place that will keep taxpayers from having to foot the bill for those jailed in Glendale. The Glendale Police Department has begun charging a $135 fee to each defendant booked into the Glendale jail.

Officials state this new fine will help the city recover thousands in administrative costs. According to a Police report, the court will impose the fine as part of the civil judgement, and as a condition of their probation. The city reports that the money can help with purchasing fingerprint equipment, storage, photographs and other administrative costs.

Glendale has been charging this fee to those convicted of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) since 1997 and has collected about $31,000 in fees. With the expanded fee, the city could Read more »