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Supervisors direct multidisciplinary leadership to advance Men’s Central Jail closure planning
Summary
The Board approved Supervisor Mitchell’s motion to center health, housing and diversion experts in jail-closure planning, directing a CEO-led, cross‑departmental effort with benchmarks, budget alignment and a report back; presenters described ODR programs that have reduced jail days and urged sustained funding.
Supervisor Mitchell urged a care‑first approach to reducing the county jail population and moved a motion directing the chief executive office and departments to coordinate jail‑closure planning through a multidisciplinary lens, set department goals and benchmarks, incorporate budget considerations, and report back on progress.
"This is not about building a replacement jail for MCJ," Mitchell said, framing the motion as a plan to "get us to jail closure" while centering health and services. County presenters described how Office of Diversion and Reentry programs and prerelease Medicaid services have helped move people out of custody and into housing and treatment. Clemens Hong of ODR summarized program outcomes, saying the ODR housing program currently serves roughly 120 people per month and that without additional funding it could shrink to about 60 per month in October. He added that, when sustained at scale, ODR’s housing removals reduce jail days substantially: "we've reduced the number of jail days ... by 380,000 jail days" in a two‑year analysis.
Judge Songhai Armstead and correctional health officials described complementary reentry and release‑planning efforts; the county CEO’s office emphasized that funding, facilities alignment, and case‑processing reforms will all be needed and that investments should be sequenced to reflect budget realities. Maggie Carter of the CEO’s office said the county is exploring additional billing and Medicaid draws to sustain programs and identify cost‑saving opportunities.
Public comment was strongly supportive: speakers from Dignity and Power Now, Justice LA Coalition, Law Defensa and others urged the board to fully fund proven diversion and housing programs and warned against building replacement jail capacity. After discussion and public comment, the board adopted the motion by roll call (motion carries). The motion directs the CEO and departments to return with implementation steps, metrics, and budget implications.
