Tag: Board of Surpervisors

Today marks two years since the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (BOS) adopted the foundational recommendations of the Alternatives to Incarceration Workgroup Final Report, a groundbreaking roadmap for decarceration and service expansion throughout the county. The model of the ATI Workgroup was unprecedented – not only in size and scope, but also in its inclusion of community decision-making power. Hundreds of community members were consulted and involved in the drafting of the report’s recommendations, including over 50 members of the JusticeLA coalition–several of whom were workgroup voting members and committee chairs. By adopting the foundational recommendations in the report, the BOS made a public commitment to invest county resources in developing a system based on care, not punishment. Two years later, we have not forgotten that promise and continue to hold the BOS to their commitment. 

This visionary partnership between county and community produced a groundbreaking document rigorously developed through a consensus-based model. Through this collaborative process, community members worked side by side with the county, proving that when the community is allowed a seat at the table, government is more creative, holistic, efficient and effective. At the time of the adoption of the recommendations, Eunisses Hernandez, Co-Founder of La Defensa and a voting member of the county’s ATI Workgroup, called the report “a practical, yet powerful and visionary set of recommendations for how we could begin building out a decentralized community based system of care and housing first and foremost.” She uplifted the coalition’s demand to “stop the mass incarceration of our most vulnerable and unsupported community members in LA County.” 

But our strong support was not without heavy concerns.

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JusticeLA Demands Action On the Anniversary of the “Care First, Jails Last” Alternatives to Incarceration Report

LOS ANGELES, CA – Yesterday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion authored by Supervisor Sheila Keuhl establishing the Justice, Care, and Opportunities Department (JCOD) and the Department of Youth Development (DYD). This Board approved motion also establishes independent pretrial services under the new JCOD – a significant shift from the failed Probation led pretrial system that has driven LA County’s pretrial population to nearly 50% of the jail system. The creation of an independent pretrial services agency outside of the probation department is a demand that the community has been voicing for decades.

Noticeably absent from the motion was any funding commitment to support the establishment of the departments and the expansion of desperately needed services. The transformative potential of the JCOD and DYD will be more realized if the Board prioritizes funding these county departments in this year’s budget cycle. The community’s demands at Tuesday’s Board meeting were loud and clear—the Board must take swift action to allocate significant funding for JCOD and DYD and commit to closing Men’s Central Jail by March 2023.

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Victories for a Progressive Care First Vision Passed by Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors: Next Step, A Fully-Funded Care First Budget