When state regulators showed up in September to inspect the Mens Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, they found broken toilets, moldy towels, rodent feces and cells

doors?

gates that wouldn’t lock. It appeared the guards were not conducting required hourly checks, and the facility did not have proof of monthly fire inspections, according to state records.

After the visit, supervisors from the Board of State and Community Corrections, which oversee hundreds of detention centers across the state, flagged off the aging prison

as

non-compliant, with a variety of safety and sanitary facilities

violation requirements

. They ordered provincial officials to resolve the problems.

But the board’s nearly 500-page November report, which outlines the findings of the case inspections, shows that the problems are not limited to Mens Central Prison. Officials have also identified themselves

compliance

problems at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility

And

the prisoner reception center and in several prisons in Castaic.

The LA County Sheriff’s Department said in an emailed statement on Thursday

who oversees the prisons,

said it welcomes the State Board’s review, which has resulted in meaningful revisions to our policies and procedures and an opportunity to take positive steps to better serve our incarcerated population.

The department also pointed out that regulators returned after the inspections to assess progress in resolving the issues and found that a number of compliance issues had been corrected.

Our facilities have conducted a monthly fire and life inspection for each residential area and the appropriate unit orders have been updated, the department statement continued. The department is committed to working diligently to comply with all deficiencies outlined in the BSCC inspection report.

The state board confirmed this week that the Sheriff’s Department has made some changes and updated its fire policies

to live

safety inspections, but added that Sheriff Robert Luna will still be asked to appear February board meeting to discuss compliance issues.

For some reform advocates, the department’s failure to consistently adhere to state standards is a troubling reminder of the ongoing problems in county jails, which are currently the subject of three major federal lawsuits.

County avoids contempt hearing on jail conditions: Federal judge approves settlement

Not surprisingly, this is a disturbing confirmation of what we’ve been hearing from people in there, says Michelle Parris, director of the Vera Institute of Justice’s California office. Despite the prison population being 25% lower than it was a few years ago, and despite spending millions of dollars, conditions appear to be worsening and the number of prison deaths is growing.

*****

This year, inspectors identified hundreds of non-compliance with government regulations during annual visits to more than 400 facilities across the state. Data shows that many of the non-compliance cases, including numerous issues outlined at San Diego County facilities, are the result of failure to make required updates to department policies, rather than specific sanitation or safety issues.

In Los Angeles County, the

violations of compliance issues

Inspectors found at the jails in the northern part of the province had to deal with the structures themselves, which house more inmates than they are approved for.

In inner city jails, compliance issues were more likely to be due to operational and security issues. At the prisoner shelter, the report said, prison guards did not properly document their use of a controversial restraint mechanism known as the WRAP, in which prisoners are encased in a blanket-like device from their ankles to their shoulders.

Even before the state board released its report this month, departments were using the WRAP

device

had come under scrutiny during a federal lawsuit over prison guards’ use of force against inmates.

At the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, which often houses mentally ill inmates,

the

BSCC found that inmates were not allowed to leave their cells for the seven hours per week required by state regulations. And as with the Mens Central Jail across the street, supervisors expressed concerns about fire safety planning.

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From October 2022 through August 2023, state officials said, the Sheriff’s Department failed to document fire and life safety inspections, even though it told regulators that maintenance workers

Calm

carried out a number of mandatory checks during that time.

In response to the case report, the department updated its policy and methodology for documenting monthly inspections, as well as providing evidence from some recently completed inspections, state officials said.

In addition to regular state inspections, there are also prisons in California

So

required to have annual inspections by provincial health officials and biennial inspections by fire officials. In recent years, both inspections have revealed a variety of problems.

A health inspection in September 2020 at the women’s prison, the Century Regional Detention Facility

in Lynwood

found dirt in food preparation areas, unlabeled bottles of chemicals

S

broken sinks and toilets, urine stains on floor tiles and peeling paint.

That same month, health inspectors discovered similar problems elsewhere, as well as an infestation of small flies in the showers of a section of the prisoner reception center; broken lights and leaky ceilings at Mens Central Jail; toilets covered in feces in Twin Towers; and rusted sinks, broken dishwashers and mold stains in the facilities in Castaic.

In early 2020, county fire inspectors discovered that the women’s prison in Lynwood did not have the required certifications for its sprinkler system or fire alarm. The following year, inspectors found that three of the Castaic facilities had violated the state fire code because of broken emergency lighting, unsafe wiring, failure to maintain fire alarm systems and fire extinguishers and a range of other problems.

And while online records show that Mens Central Jail was issued a burn permit by the Los Angeles Fire Department in May 2020, along with a brief note stating that it is a work in progress per COVID-19, a Times investigation recently found that the facility has no smoke detectors in inmate living areas and suffers near-constant fires.

Fires are common in the central prison of Mens, but smoke detectors are not: it smells ‘like campfire’

Using stolen or improvised lighters, inmates at the 60-year-old downtown lockup routinely light fires to heat water, cook food, ignite contraband or simply stay warm. In June, an oversight inspector from the county’s Sybil Fire Commission was alerted that large fires were burning in three cells she passed in a second-floor cell block.

It’s like a Third World country, the inspector, Mary Veral, told her fellow commissioners at a meeting the following month. I’ve been in that prison many times, and it was really wild.

For Parris, the solution to years of troubling reports and investigations is clear.

We need accountability for the horrific conditions, more urgency for detention by connecting to services and ultimately the closure of the Mens Central Jail, Parris said. Our Board of Trustees knows that these conditions beneath human dignity stigmatize and traumatize people and make us all less safe.