How Los Angeles Wrestles with Mass Incarceration

Top L.A. County public safety managers and heads of organizations charged with monitoring those systems recently came together for the three-part “Smart Justice: Rethinking Public Safety in California” discussion to identify well-known problems in corrections thinking and propose solutions that replace punishment with rehabilitation. With the largest probation department in the nation, the largest sheriff’s department, and the third largest police force in the L.A. Police Department, L.A. County’s jails suffer from significant violence and tension as well as racial and gang problems.

Top L.A. County public safety managers and heads of organizations charged with monitoring those systems recently came together for the three-part “Smart Justice: Rethinking Public Safety in California” discussion to identify well-known problems in corrections thinking and propose solutions that replace punishment with rehabilitation. With the largest probation department in the nation, the largest sheriff’s department, and the third largest police force in the L.A. Police Department, L.A. County’s jails suffer from significant violence and tension as well as racial and gang problems. The recent report of the Citizens’ Commission on Jail Violence, which presented 77 findings and 66 recommendations designed to address “a persistent pattern of unreasonable force in the Los Angeles County jails that dates back many years,” figured prominently in the discussions.

NCCD’s President Alex Busansky served as a member of the Citizens’ Commission on Jail Violence, which you can learn more about here.