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| Integration of Asian Inmates Angers Families |
| By Los Angeles Times |
| Published: 02/02/2004 |
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Nearly two dozen people angered by a recent decision by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to place Asian and Asian American inmates into the general population at the Men's Central Jail met with Sheriff Lee Baca last Monday, urging him to reconsider the move. Family, friends and loved ones of the Asian jail inmates said that ending a decade-long policy of segregation in an "Asian-only module" at the downtown Los Angeles jail would put the inmates in danger. The unit housed about 300 inmates out of a total population of 7,000. Rosie Tse, whose husband has been in jail while awaiting trial on suspicion of home-invasion robbery, said after the meeting that she was disappointed that Baca chose to focus on the importance of ending segregation at the jail rather than on maintaining a safe jail environment. Sheriff's deputies began moving the Asian inmates out of their segregated dorms two weeks ago, causing some to set fire to mattresses and flood their cells. Deputies quelled the uprising with high-powered water hoses, according to sources. No major injuries were reported. Sheriff's officials on a daily basis match inmate demographics with the capacity of each jail facility to determine the proper ethnic mix, Assistant Sheriff Doyle Campbell said. Asian gang members will continue to be segregated, he said. The shift away from segregation should save resources, he added. The segregation policy was adopted in the early 1990s when there was a far lower proportion of Asian inmates relative to other racial groups at the Men's Central Jail. But over the past decade, the Asian population has increased to the point that - given budget constraints, jail closures and deputy layoffs - a return to the general population is necessary, Campbell said. "This was not done irrationally," he said. |
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