A rapidly growing fire near the Castaic Jail Wednesday morning raised alarm as lawyers asked the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to evacuate the roughly 5,000 inmates at the county’s northernmost jail. Ta.
The Hughes Fire started shortly before 11 a.m. about eight miles north of the Pitches Detention Center.
The police department announced at 10:58 a.m., a few minutes after the fire broke out, that “no evacuation orders have been issued yet.” “The facility is aware and will take appropriate action as necessary.”
But the fire quickly grew to more than 3,000 acres, and by noon, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which represents inmates in two class-action lawsuits against the prison, were lobbying county officials to take action. I started.
At 11:53 a.m., ACLU of Southern California Senior Staff Attorney Melissa Camacho emailed Sandra Croxton, assistant general counsel to Supervisor Kathryn Berger, to express her concerns.
“We hope that you and Director Berger will immediately put pressure on LASD to begin the immediate evacuation of the four prisons,” Camacho wrote. “This is just a guess, but I think there are about 1,000 LASD staff as well. But I have no doubt that well over 5,000 people will be evacuated, especially with the possibility of being spread out across the county right now. There are only about 20 buses with high capacity, too many to evacuate and wait for an evacuation order or warning.
For years, the Sheriff’s Office has struggled with a shortage of inmate transportation buses, which have become difficult to repair due to aging. By the end of last year, officials told the Times only 20 of the 82 buses were in service.
The county approved funding for 20 new buses in September 2023, but the first buses didn’t arrive until December. The remaining buses are expected to arrive every few weeks until the order is completed in August, officials said.
It’s unclear how evacuations will work, but department officials said they may draw on state and other local resources.
As of 12:20 p.m. Wednesday, the department had not yet evacuated the facility, but day shift staff and guards had been asked to stay late to assist in the case of an evacuation at the prison and to assist with the evacuation. It was announced that there was. Some areas of Santa Clarita were affected by the fire.
As of late last year, the Castaic prison complex housed about 4,700 people, including at least 1,200 with diagnosed mental health problems, according to department data. are.
“It’s the most densely populated area in the region,” Camacho told the Times. “We don’t have enough buses to take people to court. We certainly don’t have enough buses to move everyone at once for evacuation.”
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