Mike Bolen

Advocacy Groups Call L.A. County Mental Health Jails ‘Potential Death Traps’

Black Lives Matter co founder Patrisse Cullors along with advocacy group Reform L.A. Jails, launched the #CancelMcCarthyContract campaign this month, in an effort to stave off Los Angeles County’s proposed Mental Health Jail to be built downtown. Last year, county supervisors approved $2.2 billion to be earmarked for a replacement Men’s Central, with an added focus on mental health and rehabilitation, noting that 70 percent of the county jail’s population were physically or mentally ill. However, said Cullors, all is not what it seems. “On June 24, 2019, Sachi Hamai, CEO of Los Angeles County, pitched a jail plan that