According to the motion by Supervisor Hilda Solis, the latest Inspector General quarterly report on “Reform and Oversight Efforts: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department” uncovered the department’s “reprehensible practice of not providing thermal undergarments to people in custody despite complaints of freezing temperatures in county jails.”
The motion noted that the same report found that the sheriff’s department “has a surplus of about 315,000 thermal tops and bottoms for a current jail population of about 13,000 people in custody.” The report claims that the department contends that “to provide the current population with the thermal undergarment set it requires a total of 550,000 tops and bottoms. This, however, is no excuse not to dole out the inventory it currently has or to preclude LASD from purchasing additional sets.” The Solis motion also alleged that “people in county jails have been frequently seen wearing sheets and blankets to keep warm” or “wearing cutoff socks as sleeves.”
The motion further stated it “is incumbent that county inmates be treated humanely and that includes ensuring that they have access and are provided clothing appropriate to temperature and that facilities maintain appropriate temperatures.”
Solis’ motion requires that the sheriff provide all inmates who so request be issued a thermal underwear top and bottom, maintain a log of undergarment distribution and that the sheriff be certain there is an adequate supply of warm underwear for current and possible future inmates’ needs.
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ACE says
SOME COMFY FUR LINED BUNNY SLIPPERS WOULD BE NICE TOO –
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Tim Scott says
This ultimately saves money. From personal experience, inmates stuck in freezing cold jails cut holes in the blankets so they can wear them like ponchos. Cheaper to supply the long johns than to constantly replace the blankets.