BACA FREES INMATES SHERIFF CHALLENGES COUNTY SUPERVISORS WITH COST-CUTTING MOVE.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Challenging the Board of Supervisors on law enforcement funding, Sheriff Lee Baca has released 842 inmates in the past week after they served at least 70 percent of their sentences for misdemeanors, officials disclosed Thursday.

To save money to cover his budget deficit, Baca intends to reduce the jail population of about 21,000 by as many as 1,400 inmates through ongoing early releases.

And beginning July 1, he will release those held on misdemeanor bail amounts of $25,000 or less. Currently, the department routinely releases defendants whose bail is $5,000 or less.

``These are low-grade misdemeanors,'' Assistant Sheriff Dennis Dahlman said. ``The people with $25,000 bail are not dangerous people. As a group, they are probably poor people who would have bailed out if they had the money. On their written promise to appear, we'll issue them a citation.''

County supervisors who are set to vote on Baca's budget next week reacted angrily to Baca's move.

``Convicted criminals belong in jail and not on the streets,'' said Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.

The sheriff's budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 is $1.6 billion, of which $648 million comes from the county. The county's share represents a $13 million increase over the current fiscal year, but Baca says it's not enough to cover rising costs for salaries and benefits and workers' compensation.

He is releasing the inmates so he can shut down the Century Regional Detention Center in Lynwood - and save $18 million to $20 million a year - by shifting prisoners to other jails in the system.

The offenders being released are charged with such crimes as vandalism, petty theft and drunk or reckless driving. Baca's predecessor, Sherman Block, released about 3,000 inmates in 1995 in a similar budget crisis.

Since Baca's election in 1998, all inmates have had to serve 100 percent of their sentence, Dahlman said. Before that, the department occasionally allowed inmates to serve only half of their sentence.

Baca issued a statement Thursday saying that in the next two to four weeks, he will reassign 175 deputies from community-oriented policing to patrol duty and will move 34 sworn personnel out of the recruit training unit. He also will close the popular Biscailuz Recovery Center, a drug rehabilitation program.

Baca also said he is shutting down the Asian Crimes Task Force and the Deputy Leadership Institute.

Last month, Baca threatened to cut critical programs and release hundreds of inmates being held on bail amounts of $25,000 or less if the county supervisors didn't increase his budget to make up for what he says is $100 million in lost revenue in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, and in the next fiscal year.

At the time, the supervisors and District Attorney Steve Cooley expressed outrage, saying the release of inmates would lead to many freed prisoners becoming fugitives or committing new crimes.

The next day, Baca said he would delay the release of the inmates until July 1 in the hopes that the public would put pressure on the supervisors to restore his budget. County officials have indicated that the sheriff will not get significantly more funding.

On Thursday, the supervisors reacted with dismay at the news, which came as a surprise to them.

``It's absolutely a surprise, particularly in view of the fact we'll have the budget before us next week,'' Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said. ``I would have thought he would have waited until we had an opportunity to review the budget issues and have some kind of discussion of this plan.

``I think it's political. We have decisions to make next Wednesday and I assume he is attempting to get as much pressure on us as possible. They had sheriff's deputies calling people in the community to say they won't have deputies to do certain things. Now, this says they will have criminals coming out of the jails and we have to increase our budget by $100 million.''

Dahlman said the move is not political.

``The reality is we don't have enough money to operate the facility,'' Dahlman said. ``With no new money by July 1, we have to start right away to save money. We can't wait a month or two because the cuts will be more drastic when you try to play catch-up.''

Burke said the supervisors will have to make hard decisions Wednesday that involve converting hospitals into outpatient clinics, closing health clinics and shutting down or reducing library hours.

``The question is, what does he (Baca) want us to close? Which clinics does he want us to close in order to give him his $100 million? Does he want us to close all the libraries?''

A representative of Supervisor Don Knabe said Baca took the action on his own.

``No one forced him to do this,'' Knabe spokesman John Musella said. ``No final budget decision has been made. The process is still ongoing. The supervisor is obviously disappointed with what the sheriff has done.''

The Board of Supervisors will vote on Baca's budget Wednesday.

Baca said the planned cutbacks will be hard.

``These cuts are a devastating disruption to the careers and personal lives of hundreds of dedicated department members,'' Baca said. ``This disruption is going to be very difficult. The department is actively exploring ways to restore these units and positions and to prevent further cuts.''