Lemon Creek Correctional Center

Colorado Department of Corrections operates several prisons in the county. The department operates the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility in Cañon City. In addition several correctional facilities near Cañon City are located in unincorporated areas in the county. Colorado State Penitentiary, the location of the state death row and execution chamber, is in Fremont County. Other state prisons in Fremont County include Arrowhead Correctional Center, Centennial Correctional Facility, Fremont Correctional Facility, Four Mile Correctional Center, and Skyline Correctional Center.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons operates the Federal Correctional Complex, Florence in Fremont County, which consists of several separate Federal prisons, including the only supermax facility in the federal system, home to many convicted terrorists and other notorious criminals.In the county, the population was spread out, with 20.60% under the age of 18, 7.50% from 18 to 24, 33.40% from 25 to 44, 24.00% from 45 to 64, and 14.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 133.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 143.50 males.

Fremont County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 48,939. The county seat is Cañon City. The county is named for 19th-century explorer and presidential candidate John C. Frémont.Rural Fremont County is the location of 15 prisons; most of these are operated by the state. ADX Florence, the only federal Supermax prison in the United States, is in an unincorporated area in Fremont County, south of Florence, and is part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Florence. As of March 2015, Fremont County leads the nation among all counties as the one with the largest proportion of persons incarcerated. Prisoners are counted as part of the county population in the census, and 20% of residents are held in the prisons in the county.

The daily operations of the county are controlled centrally from the County Administration Building, located in Cañon City. It houses the offices of both elected and appointed officials, including:

The median income for a household in the county was $34,150, and the median income for a family was $42,303. Males had a median income of $30,428 versus $23,112 for females. The per capita income for the county was $17,420. About 8.30% of families and 11.70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.80% of those under age 18 and 7.40% of those age 65 or over. There were 15,232 households, out of which 30.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.30% were married couples living together, 9.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.10% were non-families. 26.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.93. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,534 square miles (3,970 km), of which 1,533 square miles (3,970 km) is land and 0.9 square miles (2.3 km) (0.06%) is water.Fremont County comprises the Cañon City, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Pueblo-Cañon City, CO Combined Statistical Area.

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Three of the first state prisons in the world opened in the United States just after the American Revolution: in Massachusetts in 1785, in Connecticut in 1790 and Pennsylvania in 1794. There was a desire at that same time to reform the jails because conditions were so rife with fights, corruption and disease. So this thinking opened the door for what, Rubin wrote in JSTOR, “paved the way for prisons as we now know them.”

Diyarbakir Prison was built in 1980 by the Ministry of Justice in Turkey. After the Sept. 12, 1980, Turkish coup d’état, Diyarbakir became a martial law military prison where torture was a common tool for forced assimilation of the Kurds. A total of 650,000 people were detained after the September coup, and most were beaten or tortured. More than 500 died — many of those at Diyarbakir. During the “the period of barbarity,” which refers to the early and mid-1980s when Diyarbakır was newly built, prisoners there were subjected to horrific acts of systematic torture. Though rarely confirmed by superiors, hundreds of testimonies from former Diyarbakir inmates have told of physical and mental abuse; sleep, sensory, water and food deprivation; “Palestinian hangings” (hanging by the arms); mock executions; electric shocks to genitals; extraction of nails and healthy teeth; rape or threat of rape; and worse. These abuses to Kurdish prisoners fueled the rise of the Kurdistan Workers’ party, or PKK, which still fights against the Turkish state. Today Diyarbakir is still a working prison and is known for its significant number of human rights violations per inmate. But in 2021, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced it would be turned into a cultural center, to mixed reviews.Kenya is notorious for tough conditions in its prisons and Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, located in Roysambu Constituency, is widely regarded as the worst. It was built in 1954 by the British and modeled after an old-style colonial system to house offenders during a state of emergency declared in October 1952. Kamiti still has its original gallows, though the last execution there was in 1987. It is notoriously overcrowded and the conditions are unsanitary — the prison’s official capacity is 1,200, though reports suggest there are between 1,800 and 2,500 inmates crammed inside. Serious health conditions, including HIV and AIDS, gonorrhea, syphilis, tuberculosis and dysentery are rampant. Though Kamiti was already well-known for housing political prisoners and executions by hanging, its infamy grew in 2008, when a riot sparked by a contraband search was captured on cellphone and shown on television. It also made headlines again in 2021 when three convicted terror suspects escaped. Seven wardens were later arrested for helping aid their escape.

Near the middle of North Korea is a 60-square-mile (155-square-kilometer) prison facility known both as Camp 14 and Kacheon. According to reports by the U.S. Department of State, Camp 14 was built in 1959 near the center of the country, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Pyongyang. Camp 14 is considered a political prisoner camp and can hold 15,000 prisoners. That means they are serving life sentences for being “enemies of the state.” Inmates here are routinely starved, and forced into slave labor in mining, textiles and farming. Camp 14 also employs a policy known as “three generations of punishment,” which means many prisoners are there for merely being related to someone suspected of a crime—and they’ll likely will die there without ever committing a crime themselves.This prison complex in Indiana consists of maximum-security, medium-security and low-security units. Nicknamed “Guantanamo North,” Terre Haute is home to Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is on death row there. (The United States federal government’s execution chamber is located at Terre Haute.) The ACLU accused Terre Haute in 2008 of having “grossly inadequate” conditions at its special confinement unit, where death row inmates are held. It accused the prison of denying the prisoners medical care and mental health services, and said they were subjected to so much noise that it caused them sleep deprivation. In January 2021, Terre Haute had the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the federal prison system, including inmates on death row. Federal executions at Terre Haute have been on pause since U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced July 1, 2021, the Department of Justice would review its policy on capital punishment. This was after the Trump administration carried out 13 federal executions just months before the end of Trump’s term, including the execution of Lisa Montgomery by lethal injection Jan. 12, 2021. Montgomery was the first woman put to death by the U.S. in 67 years. Still, 46 men remain on death row at Terra Haute, including Dylann Roof, who was sentenced to death for federal hate crimes for killing nine church parishioners in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015.

The practice of imprisonment as punishment for crime dates back as far as the 17th century when people — even orphans — were held for minor things or for awaiting trial. But according to scholar Ashley Rubin, those “prisons” were more akin to today’s jails — not penitentiaries — and were not places for punishment.The most crowded prison in the world, Gitarama is home to more than 7,000 prisoners in a facility that was built to hold only 400. Most of the inmates are suspects of the Rwandan genocide that took place in 1994. Given the extreme overcrowding, the men and women housed here are forced to stand barefoot on the filthy ground for all hours of the day, causing their feet to rot. Many eventually require amputations, but with only one full-time doctor dedicated to the prison, most prisoners are unable to receive the treatment they need, resulting in half a dozen deaths each day.The oldest prison in California, San Quentin is notoriously known for its violence. It has been home to many infamous criminals, including Charles Manson, Scott Peterson and Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy. It had the only death row facility in the state for more than 700 death row inmates (the largest facility in the United States), and home to California’s only gas chamber. But in early 2022, the state started the process of closing death row and relocating the inmates, three years after the California governor ended executions in the state. Over the years, and particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, San Quentin earned a reputation for corruption and interracial riots that were encouraged by the guards.With a population roughly three times its capacity, Mendoza Prison in Argentina is severely overcrowded. As many as five inmates are crowded into cells that measure only 43 square feet (4 square meters), and many inmates are forced to sleep on the floor without mattresses. Amnesty International reported on the conditions back in 2005, alerting that “people imprisoned in Mendoza are in such a desperate situation that they have gone as far as to sew their mouths up in demand of better living conditions.” The conditions at that time were so dire, they included torture and in some cases even death to inmates. Prisoners had inadequate medical care and the prison lacked a proper sewage system, forcing inmates no other choice but to use plastic bags and bottles as their washrooms. Black Dolphin Prison (aka penal colony No. 6) is located near Russia’s border with Kazakhstan. It’s reserved for the country’s most dangerous and violent convicted criminals, including serial killers, cannibals, pedophiles and Chechen terrorists. It is named for the dolphin sculpture created by the inmates that sits on the grass at the front of the prison reception. Prisoners here are watched 24-hours a day via video surveillance, and guards make rounds every 15 minutes. Two inmates are assigned to each 50-square-foot (4.6 square-meter) cell that is behind three sets of steel doors to keep it extra-isolated from guards and other inmates. Prisoners are allowed outside their cells for only 90 minutes per day in a barren concrete exercise yard. If they’re moved anywhere within the facility, they’re cuffed, blindfolded and forced to walk bent over so they can’t learn the prison’s layout, interact with other prisoners or overpower the guards. This technique is believed to be unique to Black Dolphin. Today, the size and living conditions of prison vary widely and are often tied to the criminals they house. Minimum security prisons in the United States and abroad might have comfortable beds, access to private bathrooms, and recreational and rehabilitation programs. In the United States, the rich and famous may even have the chance to serve their sentences in facilities upgraded with flat-screen TVs and other creature comforts, a controversial pay-to-play opportunity to ensure minimal discomfort while they serve their debts to society.Also known as ADX Florence, Florence ADX, Supermax, or the Alcatraz of the Rockies, this is the most maximum-security prison in the United States. Built in 1994, this facility houses some of the world’s most dangerous criminals, including Ted Kaczynski (the Unabomber), Ramzi Yousef (responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing), and Zacarias Moussaoui (involved in the 9/11 attacks). Inmates at this facility spend 23 hours a day in solitary confinement in their 7-by-12-foot (2-by-3.6-meter) concrete cells. Windows are tiny and prisoners get their meals through small slots in the cells’ metal doors. When prisoners are allowed out of their cells during the one-hour recreation period, they wear several restraints and are escorted by multiple guards to a small outdoor cage. The prison was once described by former warden Robert Hood as “a clean version of hell.”

`;t.byline_authors_html&&(e+=`By: ${t.byline_authors_html}`),t.byline_authors_html&&t.byline_date_html&&(e+=” | “),t.byline_date_html&&(e+=t.byline_date_html);var i=t.body_html.replaceAll(‘”pt’,'”pt’+t.id+”_”);return e+=`\n\t\t\t\tWe and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page..6.482 U.S. at 89. In Overton v. Bazzetta, 539 U.S. 126 (2003), the Court applied Turner to uphold various restrictions on visitation by children and by former inmates, and on all visitation except attorneys and members of the clergy for inmates with two or more substance-abuse violations; an inmate subject to the latter restriction could apply for reinstatement of visitation privileges after two years. If the withdrawal of all visitation privileges were permanent or for a much longer period, or if it were applied in an arbitrary manner to a particular inmate, the case would present different considerations. Id. at 137.

1. Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817, 822 (1974). In a related, but distinct context, however, state laws that restrict the First Amendment rights of former prisoners that are still under the supervision of the state appear to be subject to strict scrutiny. For example, in Packingham v. North Carolina, the Court struck down a North Carolina law making it a felony for registered sex offenders to use commercial social networking websites that allow minor children to be members, such as Facebook. 582 U.S. ___, No. 15-1194, slip op. (2017). The Court held that the North Carolina law impermissibly restricted lawful speech because it was not narrowly tailored to serve the significant government interest in protecting minors from registered sex offenders. Id. at 8 (holding that it was unsettling to suggest that only a limited set of websites can be used even by persons who have completed their sentences.).

The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our contributing authors. We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please contact an attorney in your area.In Turner v. Safley, however, the Court made clear that a standard that is more deferential to the government is applicable when the free speech rights only of inmates are at stake. In upholding a Missouri restriction on correspondence between inmates at different institutions, while striking down a prohibition on inmate marriages absent a compelling reason such as pregnancy or birth of a child, the Court announced the appropriate standard: [W]hen a regulation impinges on inmates’ constitutional rights, the regulation is valid if it is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. Four factors are relevant in determining the reasonableness of a regulation at issue. First, is there a valid, rational connection between the prison regulation and the legitimate governmental interest put forward to justify it? Second, are there alternative means of exercising the right that remain open to prison inmates? Third, what impact will accommodation of the asserted constitutional right . . . have on guards and other inmates, and on the allocation of prison resources generally? And, fourth, are ready alternatives for furthering the governmental interest available? Two years after Turner v. Safley, in Thornburgh v. Abbott, the Court restricted Procunier v. Martinez to the regulation of outgoing correspondence, finding that the needs of prison security justify a more deferential standard for prison regulations restricting incoming material, whether those incoming materials are correspondence from other prisoners, correspondence from nonprisoners, or outside publications.

8. Beard v. Banks, 548 U.S. 521, 529 (2006) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted; this quotation quotes language from Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. at 89–90).This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy, clarity, and style by FindLaw’s team of legal writers and attorneys and in accordance with our editorial standards.

Incarceration can lead to the loss of several important rights, as well as a person’s physical freedom. Inmates lose their right to vote, their right to privacy, and even some of their First Amendment rights. Over the years, the Supreme Court has struggled to arrive at a consistent standard for the restriction of free speech in prisons, with some questions still unanswered today.

A prison inmate retains only those First Amendment rights that are not inconsistent with his status as a prisoner or with the legitimate penological objectives of the corrections system. The identifiable governmental interests at stake in the administration of prisons are the preservation of internal order and discipline, the maintenance of institutional security against escape or unauthorized entry, and the rehabilitation of the prisoners. In applying these general standards, the Court at first arrived at somewhat divergent points in assessing prison restrictions on mail and on face-to-face news interviews between reporters and prisoners. The Court’s more recent deferential approach to regulation of prisoners’ mail has lessened the differences.First, in Procunier v. Martinez, the Court invalidated mail censorship regulations that permitted authorities to hold back or to censor mail to and from prisoners whenever they thought that the letters unduly complain, express inflammatory views, or were defamatory or otherwise inappropriate. The Court based this ruling not on the rights of the prisoner, but instead on the outsider’s right to communicate with the prisoner either by sending or by receiving mail. Under this framework, the Court held, regulation of mail must further an important interest unrelated to the suppression of expression; regulation must be shown to further the substantial interest of security, order, and rehabilitation; and regulation must not be used simply to censor opinions or other expressions. Further, a restriction must be no greater than is necessary to the protection of the particular government interest involved. 19. Houchins v. KQED,438 U.S. 1, 17 (1978). The decision’s imprecision of meaning is partly attributable to the fact that there was no opinion of the Court. A plurality opinion represented the views of only three Justices; two Justices did not participate, three Justices dissented, and one Justice concurred with views that departed somewhat from the plurality. While agreeing with a previous affirmation that news gathering is not without its First Amendment protections, the Court denied that the First Amendment imposed upon the government any affirmative obligation to the press. The First and Fourteenth Amendments bar government from interfering in any way with a free press. The Constitution does not, however, require government to accord the press special access to information not shared by members of the public generally. Pell and Saxbe did not delineate whether the equal access rule applied only in cases in which there was public access, so that a different rule for the press might follow when general access was denied; nor did they purport to define what the rules of equal access are. No greater specificity emerged from Houchins v. KQED, in which a broadcaster had sued for access to a prison from which public and press alike were barred and as to which there was considerable controversy over conditions of incarceration. Following initiation of the suit, the administrator of the prison authorized limited public tours. The tours were open to the press, but cameras and recording devices were not permitted, there was no opportunity to talk to inmates, and the tours did not include the maximum-security area about which much of the controversy centered. The Supreme Court overturned the injunction obtained in the lower courts, the plurality reiterating that [n]either the First Amendment nor the Fourteenth Amendment mandates a right of access to government information or sources of information within the government’s control. Until the political branches decree otherwise, as they are free to do, the media have no special right of access to the Alameda County Jail different from or greater than that accorded the public generally. Justice Stewart, whose vote was necessary to the disposition of the case, agreed with the equal access holding but would have approved an injunction more narrowly drawn to protect the press’s right to use cameras and recorders so as to enlarge public access to the information. Thus, any question of special press access appears settled by the decision; yet the questions raised above remain: May everyone be barred from access and, if access is accorded, does the Constitution necessitate any limitation on the discretion of prison administrators?In Beard v. Banks, a plurality of the Supreme Court upheld a Pennsylvania prison policy that ‘denies newspapers, magazines, and photographs’ to a group of specially dangerous and recalcitrant inmates.These inmates were housed in Pennsylvania’s Long Term Segregation Unit and one of the prison’s penological rationales for its policy, which the plurality found to satisfy the four Turner factors, was to motivate better behavior on the part of the prisoners by providing them with an incentive to move back to the regular prison population. Applying the four Turner factors to this rationale, the plurality found that (1) there was a logical connection between depriving inmates of newspapers and magazines and providing an incentive to improve behavior; (2) the Policy provided no alternatives to the deprivation of newspapers and magazines, but this was not ‘conclusive’ of the reasonableness of the Policy; (3) the impact of accommodating the asserted constitutional right would be negative; and (4) no alternative would fully accommodate the prisoner’s rights at de minimis cost to valid penological interests. The plurality believed that its real task in this case is not balancing these factors, but rather determining whether the Secretary shows more than simply a logical relation, that is, whether he shows a reasonable relation between the Policy and legitimate penological objections, as Turner requires. The plurality concluded that he had. Justices Thomas and Scalia concurred in the result but would do away with the Turner factors because they believe that States are free to define and redefine all types of punishment, including imprisonment, to encompass various types of deprivation—provided only that those deprivations are consistent with the Eighth Amendment.

9.490 U.S. 401, 411–14 (1989). Thornburgh v. Abbott noted that, if regulations deny prisoners publications on the basis of their content, but the grounds on which the regulations do so is content-neutral (e.g., to protect prison security), then the regulations will be deemed neutral. Id. at 415–16.

Fairbanks, Alaska (UAF) – A new study suggests a notable amount of such subducted carbon returns to the atmosphere rather than traveling deep into Earth’s mantle.Juneau, Alaska (KINY) – Figure skating and Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton has partnered with CBJ Parks & Recreation’s Treadwell Arena for a peer-to-peer fundraising effort to support CARES Foundation’s research and Cancer Connection, a grassroots non-profit organization working to assist Alaskans living with cancer.Albuquerque, N.M (AP) – The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday announced it will be funneling more resources toward addressing the alarming rate of disappearances and killings among Native Americans.

Valdez, Alaska (Alaska Beacon) – The city of Valdez, site of the trans-Alaska pipeline’s marine terminal, wants the public to have information about the private company’s financial wherewithal.Fairbanks, Alaska (KINY) – On Jun. 28 at 3:29 am, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Police Department attempted to pull over a stolen Dodge Caravan on Chena Pump Road in Fairbanks.Juneau, Alaska (KINY) – On April 22, 2023, at 4:42 pm, the Alaska State Troopers were notified that an adult male inmate at Lemon Creek Correctional Center was found unresponsive in his cell.Cook was declared deceased on April 23, 2023. There is no evidence of foul play at this time; however, Troopers are conducting a thorough investigation into the death. Next of kin has been notified. Cook’s body will be sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy.

Juneau, Alaska (KINY) – The University of Alaska Southeast is pleased to announce that Dr. Cory Ortiz is the new Dean of the School of Career & Technical Education (CTE). Troopers responded to the scene, and a preliminary investigation revealed that Correctional Officers located 27-year-old Mark Cook hanging in his cell and immediately began life-saving efforts. EMS transported Cook to a Juneau area hospital for advanced medical treatment. Cook was remanded to DOC on April 3, 2023, and was unsentenced charged with Assault 3, meaning the charge was dismissed, Violate Conditions of Release, Petition to Revoke Probation (Assault 3).Wrangell, Alaska (KINY) – Hōkūleʻa and her crew departed the Southeast Alaska village of Petersburg Tuesday morning and traveled through a winding 22-mile channel called Wrangell Narrows to reach their next stop in Wrangell, Alaska.

Juneau, Alaska (KINY) – Eaglecrest Ski Area is applying for a City Project Review & Conditional Use Permit (concurrently) to develop a number of amenities.

There is currently an investigation pending by the Alaska State Troopers. The cause of death is only determined by the State Medical Examiner. Due to privacy and security, Alaska DOC cannot release confidential personal information, or medical information due to HIPAA regulations.Prisons – The department oversees the following four prisons: Halawa Correctional Facility, Waiawa Correctional Facility, Kulani Correctional Facility and the Women’s Community Correctional Center. Three of the prisons are located on the island of Oahu. Kulani Correctional Facility is located on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Jails – The department oversees the following four jails: Hawaii Community Correctional Center, Kauai Community Correctional Center, Maui Community Correctional Center, and Oahu Community Correctional Center.He is the second person to die in custody in Alaska this month. Jay Allen Stevens, 60, was pronounced dead on April 12 of natural causes after being most recently housed at Anchorage Correctional Complex, the state correctional department said. Stevens was remanded in mid-March and was unsentenced on federal charges, state officials said.

Mark Cook was remanded to Lemon Creek on April 3, according to Alaska Department of Corrections spokesperson Betsy Holley. Cook was unsentenced and jailed on charges of third-degree assault, violating conditions of release and petition to revoke probation, Holley said.William Floyd Miller, 63, was pronounced dead on March 26 after most recently being housed at Goose Creek Correctional Center, state correctional officials said. Miller, who died of natural causes, was originally imprisoned in 1986 after being convicted of murder and burglary.

Alaska State Troopers said they were notified on Saturday just before 4:45 p.m. and found Cook hanging in his cell and immediately began life-saving efforts. Medics transported him to a Juneau hospital for advanced medical treatment, troopers said. He was declared dead the next day.

Yukon Kuskokwim Correctional Center | Wildwood Correctional Center | Spring Creek Correctional Center | Point Mackenzie Correctional Farm | Palmer Correctional Center | Mat-Su Pretrial | Ketchikan Correctional Center | Hiland Mountain Correctional Center | Goose Creek Correctional Center | Fairbanks Correctional CenterWe remove barriers so that inmates and their loved ones can get accurate information about correctional facilities and facilitate goods and services that can help preserve relationships while individuals are incarcerated.Lemon Creek Correctional serves as both a long term facility for convicted felons and an initial intake and classification facility. Inmates are usually unable to make phone calls or to receive mail during the initial intake period, which can range from a few days to several weeks.

This photo shows Lemon Creek Correctional Center in Juneau. About 20% of the prison’s population was recently relocated to other facilities in South Central Alaska. The transfers come amid renovations to the aging facility. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)Individuals with mental health needs are overrepresented in Los Angeles County jails and are in need of alternative services and community-based options. In 2016, 25% of the inmate population was receiving some level of mental health treatment.

Last, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on every aspect of the county’s local justice system and continues to uniquely affect those incarcerated in local jails. The foundation of collaborative, data-driven strategies, including the necessary structures and collaboration from local stakeholders that are in place to support these strategies, has set the county up well to respond to the pandemic effectively.Prior to the county’s involvement in the Safety and Justice Challenge, approximately 40% of the inmate population was comprised of pre-trial inmates, those awaiting trial or sentencing. The partially sentenced population, which includes those who were sentenced on one or more cases and maintained open charges in another case or cases, made up approximately 20% of the overall population. This leaves very little jail capacity to hold people convicted of criminal activity and hampers in-custody rehabilitative efforts.

Because of its success, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted in January 2021 to fund expansion of the initial pilot. The Rapid Diversion Program is currently one of the initiatives under the Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) Initiative, which is helping to grow the reach of the program. The ATI Initiative’s goal is to build a more equitable justice infrastructure by expanding rapid diversion program to additional courts, and expanding eligibility to felony offenses, giving judicial officers an alternative to incarceration for individuals residing in communities with the greatest needs.A text messaging service called Uptrust helps remind people about upcoming court dates to help reduce the number of people who fail to appear at key hearings and ultimately, decrease reliance on incarceration. The solution has been piloted in the community, led by a core group of county staff, including those working in case management.In addition, racial and ethnic disparities have continued to persist in the local jail despite the reduction in the jail population. The solutions in place now are designed to address deep, systemic changes that will create equity in the long-term.From the launch in June 2019 to January 2021, the Rapid Diversion Program supported 134 people. The program had a 0% rearrest rate for graduates of the program. All of the program’s graduated clients were connected to stable housing, job resources, and secured ongoing access to mental health services. The Rapid Diversion Program is also fast: as of January 2021, 68% of participants were being placed in treatment within a week; 42% were placed the same day.

Cultural change with regard to the county’s over-reliance on jails will be slow. By allowing access to the pilot program and other ways to allow safe release of individuals from jails, stakeholders in the justice system are working to change the local culture that has long viewed jails as a solution to community problems that have deep socioeconomic causes. Los Angeles County is shifting to treatment rather than punishment, leading with the strategy “care first, jails last.”The team involved with the Safety and Justice Challenge brought together people from across the criminal justice system, government agencies, and community organizations, to discuss the diversion pilot program’s model and progress in reform.

Because the Los Angeles County jails are critically overcrowded, people in the jail with mental health issues are often too ill to be safely housed in a multi-person cell, causing further crowding in general population housing areas.