JAILS TO GET MORE FUNDING PITCHESS REOPENING SHUTTERED SECTIONS.

Byline: Amy Raisin Darvish Staff Writer

CASTAIC - With more than $78 million earmarked to boost the Sheriff's Department budget and relieve overcrowding at county jails, officials at the Pitchess Detention Center hope to reopen facilities once shuttered because of funding cuts.

Anticipating the 2005-06 county budget would restore much-needed funds to public safety and jails, officials at the Castaic jail complex in February began reopening inmate dormitories and facilities to help alleviate inmate overcrowding.

With the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' announcement Monday that nearly $79 million of the county's $18.5 billion proposed budget will be available to pay for 900 more employees and nearly 5,000 more inmate beds, law enforcement is a top priority.

``We opened (part of) the East Facility about a month ago with the hopes that (the board) would provide additional funding,'' sheriff's Cmdr. Don Rodriguez, in charge of Pitchess, said Tuesday. ``We've opened these areas (by paying deputies) overtime. Hopefully this will put an end to that.''

A section of the compound's North Facility - one of at least three sections at Pitchess closed in recent years because of budgetary constraints - was reopened in February, followed by the reopening of the second floor of the East Facility - totaling six inmate dorms - last month, Rodriguez said.

The only major section that remains closed at Pitchess, according to Rodriguez, is the South Facility, which was shut down in November 2001 to cut costs after the department's payout of $28 million in overtime in fiscal year 2000-01 to deputies, custody assistants and supervisors filling in for vacationing or sick personnel.

Three dorms in that section - each dorm in that area of the South Facility is designed to house 76 inmates - remain closed.

``This is great news and much-needed funding,'' Rodriguez said. ``I think this money will give us the ability to hire the new deputies and then we'll be able to open that section in the future.''

There were 7,100 inmates housed at Pitchess as of Tuesday, Rodriguez said.

Faced with $143 million in budget cuts two years ago, Sheriff Lee Baca announced in March 2003 the planned release of 2,600 low-risk inmates who had served as little as 40 percent of their sentences. Public reaction was less than enthusiastic.

Hoping to end the cost-cutting early release program, Baca threw his weight behind Measure A, which would have generated $560 million for additional crime-prevention programs. The measure was narrowly defeated in last November's election.

The additional public-safety funds proposed for the 2005-06 budget will largely affect Pitchess through the hiring of 914 employees - many of whom will fill crucial custody positions at overcrowded jails.

``The biggest issue is hiring deputies, getting them through the academy into (the jails),'' Rodriguez said. ``We can't stay (paying deputies) on overtime.''

Amy Raisin Darvish, [phone]

amy.raisin(at)dailynews.com