JAIL WOES PERSIST, ADVISER REPORTS.

Byline: CAROL ROCK Staff Writer

CASTAIC -- Outdated computer software, inadequate communication, the slow implementation of a centralized housing system and flawed monitoring of inmate populations were cited as continuing problems in the custody division of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Released Thursday, a semiannual report to county supervisors from special counsel Merrick Bobb says disturbances at the Pitchess Detention Center in March, April and May this year were not as frequent or intense as conflicts in the same period of 2004 and 2005, but much more work needs to be done.

Specifically cited were problems with inmate management and classification systems. A 20-year old computer program does not interface with new software that coordinates housing.

After disturbances rocked the Castaic jail complex in February, the Correctional Services Division created a matrix outlining all bed space in county jails and how many inmates each facility could safely house.

In the past, the report states, housing decisions were not based on how dangerous or vulnerable inmates were, but on space availability and racial balancing.

The report says that officials at Pitchess attempt to maintain a racial mix of 60 percent Latino, 30 percent African-American and 10 percent other, matching the profile of the entire jail population.

``Up until February, we had all (security) levels housed in dorms,'' said Cmdr. Don Rodriguez, who oversees Pitchess. ``Now we've got them divided with medium- to low-risk inmates in the North Annex and highest levels in two-person cells at North County Correctional Facility. We were only supposed to have maximum-security (inmates) at NCCF, but they didn't have enough beds for the next level (at other county jails).''

Rodriguez said that a complete reopening of the Twin Towers jail complex in Los Angeles might alleviate the overcrowding.

``We have a constant influx of inmates, in and out, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,'' he said. ``The way it's designed, you can change your security level by changing your behavior. If you're a discipline problem, it can go up, but if you're a good prisoner, it can be scaled down.''

The report also says that before February, deputies never knew the security levels of inmates for whom they were assigning housing because they were told only inmates' names, race, booking numbers and last housing.

The department began housing inmates by security levels in March, when each was rated on a 1-9 scale, with those rated 9 needing the highest security. Pitchess was in full compliance by the end of May.

While acknowledging progress, Bobb also pointed out that spaces opened by the transfer of high-security inmates from outlying facilities to the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, the American Civil Liberties Union and a judge implementing the Rutherford consent decree forced the department to reduce six-man cells to four-man cells, with the goal of reducing all cells to two-man cells.

The result was the transfer of 600 more inmates to Pitchess. When more than 1,000 inmates in 11 dorms at Pitchess' East and North facilities fought along racial lines in July, the inmates involved were moved back to the Men's Central Jail.

Despite media coverage of the disturbances at Pitchess, a three-year study of the months of March, April and May showed activity dropped in 2006 from levels of the previous two years, the report says.

So far this year, there have been 188 inmate-to-inmate and seven inmate-to-staff disturbances, compared with 286 inmate-to-inmate conflicts and nine inmate-to-staff incidents in 2005. In 2004, there were 213 inmate-to-inmate conflicts and 10 incidents involving jail staff.

Evaluators theorized that inmates got tired of restrictions on their limited freedoms, or Southsider gang members -- Latino street gang members bound by their incarceration -- controlled activities in the dorms.

However, the five incidents in July proved that security isolation is not the only solution, especially because the disturbances started in the East Facility, which was the first in compliance.

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

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