1. AMER-I-CAN The program offers violence mediation through conflict resolution, allowing participants to make positive and productive life choices. By teaching self-determination and interpersonal skills, the program helps to reduce racial tension and violence in the jail system. The inmates selected for the program are placed in a special housing unit for the duration of the program and, upon graduation, are sent back to regular housing units to share their knowledge 6. Veterans Program This program assists male and female inmates who have served in the United States Armed Forces. The Sheriff’s Department and Veterans Affairs’ community provide veteran inmates with the resources and programs necessary to transition successfully back to their communities. This multifaceted outreach program includes medical, mental health, counseling, and support group interventions.
Transitional support and resources are also provided to veterans as they prepare for release from custody.
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LASD personnel assigned to this program partner with the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, Center for Health Justice, Tarzana Treatment Center, and other community-based organizations.
7. Getting Out by Going In (GOGI) Getting Out by Going In (GOGI) is committed to nurturing the internal change that comes from positive education and self-empowerment. Class topics include life skills, dress for success, spirituality, and drug awareness.
Upon completing three modules, participants are awarded a graduation certificate. Classes are generally taught by university students in the process of earning master’s or doctorate degrees. Each participant is offered a coach, who provides individual guidance that continues after release.
Based on the last statistical review, this program’s recidivism rate is significantly lower than the general population in Los Angeles County’s jail system, 36.4 percent compared to the general population rate of 50 percent.
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3. Inmate Vending
The LASD provides the inmate population with contracted debit card vending machines inside custody facilities as a means of providing snack items and sodas, as well as serving as a source of revenue for the Inmate Welfare Fund. Vending machines are stocked with brand- name products and over-the-counter medications. Inmates purchase vending cards which can, in turn, be used in any of the Department’s 200-plus vending machines found throughout the LASD’s custody facilities.
4. Inmate Commissary
Pursuant to the authority granted in Section 4025 of the California Penal Code, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department provides commissary services to approximately 20,000 inmates housed at eight custody facilities through-out Los Angeles County. Currently, inmates order commissary items once per week by either filling out a machine scannable form or through a touch-screen kiosk.
Orders are filled via a “bag and delivery” system. Items available for purchase include hygiene products, haircut tickets, Pro-per (inmates who choose to act as their own with other inmates. The program is also geared to inmates scheduled for release into the community so they can apply the techniques learned from class to their daily living routine.
2.Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents (CCIP)
The Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents (CCIP) provides support to incarcerated female inmates who are expecting children or parenting children under 5-years old.
The curriculum includes prenatal education, nutrition, fitness, and maternal drug addiction information. The CCIP operates the MIRACLE program at the Century Regional Detention Facility, the women’s jail. The program also provides transitional services related to maternal incarceration and advocacy work with courts, defense attorneys, prosecutors, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Division of Adult Parole, and Los Angeles County Probation Department.
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6. Legal Assistance Program (Harriet Buhai) The Harriet Buhai Center for Family Law is co-sponsored by the Black Women Lawyers of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Bar Association, and Women Lawyers Associa-tion of Los Angeles. Volunteer attorneys provide female inmates with step by-step instruction and counseling in family law, domestic violence, and other frequent issues in small-groups and individual sessions.
7. LINK As the result of a class action lawsuit against the county of Los Angeles, a monetary settlement was reached with the plaintiffs, designating a “Cy Pres” Fund. The Cy Pres fund, a legal term meaning “as near as possible” or “as near as may be,” was set up to monitor Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department programs to remedy problems relating to the original class-action lawsuit. The Cy Pres Fund monies are targeted at community-based organizations that serve the needs of populations either in custody or at high risk for incarceration in the Los Angeles County jail. Seven community-based organizations were chosen to receive Cy Pres Fund monies and work in conjunction with the Sheriff’s Department. This group, now called “LINK,” has 5. Inmate Telephones There are more than 4,000 pay telephones for inmate use inside the LASD custody facilities. In 2005, the Department implemented a new phone contract system which generates revenue for the funding of inmate programs while simultaneously providing an investigative tool for LASD Detectives. The system is capable of monitoring and recording calls and provides an array of other administrative features. The system’s features have benefitted managers, jail security staff, and investigators while providing the Department with a multi-million dollar annual revenue stream for the Inmate Welfare Fund.
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attorney) materials, stationery, food, over-the-counter medication, postage stamps, pre-paid telephone and vending cards, and religious texts. Hygiene kits are also made available to indigent inmates.
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6: Jail Enterprises Unit
The Jail Enterprises Unit (JEU) works with the Department’s vocational shops to provide appropriate occupational and workplace skills to inmates, create Departmental cost savings, create new revenue streams, and provide philanthropy to organizations in need. JEU coordinates
with the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District to provide credentialed instructors for the vocational shops.
During the course of instruction, inmates produce products and services for use by the Department at a substantial savings. The inmates also produce additional products and services which are sold by the Jail Enterprises Unit to government organizations within the state of California and to nonprofit organizations. JEU is able to sell these products and services at a rate that not only allows tax dollars and charitable giving dollars to go further, but also generates revenue to help fund the Department’s inmate programs.