Keep Bailing

Los Angeles Police Department officers responded to an out-of-hand party in Pacoima Sunday morning, when neighboring residents called police with several complaints. The event has launched an investigation of the responding officers use of ”excessive force” One officer was injured at the scene and was later taken to a hospital and treated for a concussion.

When officers from the LAPD Foothill Station & Jail dispersed party goers early Sunday, the whole thing was caught on tape. It’s allegedly shown that some of the officers were dressed in riot gear. As more officers arrived to scene, party goers reportedly began throwing bottles, cans, rocks and other items at them. It was then, that an air support unit made a call out for more assistance.

According to reports, officers 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.

One inmate spoke his mind so perfectly, “How do I find a way to go beyond these bars?” He describes that being is jail is a difficult enviornment in which to exist; with the constant clanking of jail cell doors being shut, inmates shouting and loud instructions coming through the intercom system.

Being locked in a jail cell can’t be easy. But a program initiated at Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail , may offer many inmates a much needed ’metaphysical outlet’ by way of meditation classes, according to the Los Angeles Times.

A Buddhist Chaplain has been helping the inmates see a calmer, lighter sense of being through a popular weekly meditiation course being offered. So successful, it’s now Read more »

Typical Hollywood? It’s sounds like a scene from a movie as LAPD officers cuff a man dressed as Spiderman and place him in a squad car.

According to the Los Angeles Times, LAPD patrol officers received a call reporting an incident between a tourist and a a man in a Spiderman costume. When they arrived, they encountered four different people dressed Spidey.  

“They stopped one, it wasn’t him,” LAPD Lt. Beverly Lewis said. “They stopped the second, and it was the suspect.”

The victim, who said he was hit in the face and arms, refused to press charges. But Lewis said that when they discovered the warrants, he was booked at the LAPD Hollywood Station Jail. Christopher Loomis, 39, was being held on outstanding misdemeanor warrants in lieu of $5,500 bail.

I think this LA Times photo is priceless; look at the woman’s face: Read more »

In more celebrity arrest news, Mel Gibson’s conviction for drunk driving was finally expunged this week.  He has met the requirements of his probation after his 2006 drunk driving arrest.

However, in an attempt to uncover what some are saying was a media leak from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, authorities have discovered two calls were made to Harvey Levin of TMZ the exact day of Gibson’s arrest. 

One of the arresting Sheriff Deputies, James Mee stated he did nothing wrong and declined to comment any further. But phone records Read more »

Back in June, Los Angeles County Sheriff threatened to close Pitchess Jail in less than a week. Well, here we are three months later and Pitchess Detention Center remains open. Tonight, Sheriff Baca indicates the Department has found $25million in savings and revenues. According to the Los Angeles Times:

“There will be no jail closures, and no portion of a jail will be closed,” said Steve Whitmore, the department’s spokesman. “There will no reductions in services in unincorporated areas and no reductions in detectives.”

Instead, the department will use Read more »

The Los Angeles Police Department has announced that an arrest has been made in conjuction with a break in at the home of Lindsay Lohan.

Nicholas Prugo, 18, of Calabasas, is believed to have been one of a group of people who were caught on tape entering Lohan’s home last month. LAPD officer Rosario Herrera says detectives made the arrested on Thursday morning on suspicion of felony burglary. Prugo’s bail was set at  $20,000.

Officers believe that Prugo is Read more »

Latest Swine Flu: Orange County Jail

Throughout California, swine flu is effecting jail populations. Last week, we reported quarantines at San Diego jails and swine flu outbreaks at Los Angeles County jails. 

On Tuesday, an Orange County Superior Court Judge ruled that there is legal justification to keep the Orange County Jail under quarantine to control the outbreak of swine flu at that jail.

So far 25 inmates Read more »

According to the LA Times and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, 20 inmates  at Los Angeles County jails have been infected with the swine flu. Most of the inmates that were infected reside in the Castaic Pitchess Jail.

All inmates that were diagnosed with the swine flu were placed in isolation, similar to that of San Diego jails. There they will be receiving tests and monitoried for seven days. All infected inmates are not receiving visitors. Two of the infected inmates have been taken to a local hospital and are said to be in good condition.

This is not the first reported case of swine flu at the Los Angeles County jail Read more »

Last week, in a letter to the Board of Supervisors, Sheriff Lee Baca proposed closing the minimum security jail at the Pitchess Detention Center in order to mitigate $79 million in losses to the department due to budget cuts.

The Los Angeles Daily News article states:

The proposal, if ultimately approved, would reduce the amount of time county-sentenced inmates spend in jail and potentially could increase jail violence, Read more »