May 24, 2018
LAWT News Service
Actress and activist Jane Fonda announced her support Sunday for a campaign to bring more transparency and public accountability to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and to ensure that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the governing body for America’s most populous county and largest jail system, invests some of the $3.5 billion planned for building new jails into providing alternatives to incarceration. Fonda joins award winning artist John Legend who announced his support just days after the birth of his new son. Fond joins others in Hollywood including actress Alyssa Milano, Matt McGorry (“Orange is the New Black,” “How to Get Away with Murder”), Kendrick Sampson (“How to Get Away with Murder”), Shailene Woodley (“Big Little Lies”), Jason George (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Station 19”), Bojana Novakovic (“Instinct”), Sophia Bush (“Chicago P.D.”) and Fifth Harmony singer Lauren Michelle Jauregu who have taken to social media to ask registered voters in Los Angeles County to sign the petition for the Reform Jails and Community Reinvestment Initiative to ensure that ballot measure is on the November general election ballot.
“We’re incredibly honored and humbled to have the support of Ms. Fonda,” said Campaign Director Jasmyne Cannick. “In addition to being a living legend, Ms. Fonda has spent her life fighting for and supporting the causes she truly believes in.”
“L.A. is home to the largest jail system in the world and it’s time for us to change that,” said John Legend. “I support the Reform L.A. Jails ballot measure because it is our opportunity to bring public accountability and transparency to the Sheriff’s Department.”
“The fatal shooting of Stephon Clark has captured the nation’s attention and elevated the conversation around whether police can and should investigate themselves, especially when the public’s trust weighs in the balance,” added Cannick. 
“But like most citizen watchdog groups established by mayors and city councils in cities in the wake of mounting concern over the question of “Who polices the police?” the L.A. Sheriff's’ Department Civilian Oversight Commission is merely advisory.
Cannick continued, “Most independent oversight commissions lack independence. They are unable to conduct their own investigations, subpoena records or to compel the testimonies of police officers and their superiors accused of wrongdoing. The Reform L.A. Jails ballot measure fixes that and gives the commission power to provide true transparency and accountability to the public.”
In 2016, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to implement a Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission with the mission to improve public transparency and accountability for the Sheriff’s Department.
Two years later, Los Angeles County is still plagued with misconduct in the Sheriff’s Department including deputies trafficking drugs, deputies raping female inmates under the color of authority, deputies assigned to narcotics skimming money, the continuous widespread reports of inmates being mistreated in our jails, and the countless “suicides” of inmates who were allegedly under the watchful eye of deputies.
To identify, expose and end corruption and misconduct in the Sheriff’s Department, Los Angeles County needs an independent Civilian Oversight Commission with the power to subpoena records and to compel the testimony of deputies and their superiors accused of wrongdoing--not one that is merely advisory.
“There are two unacceptable problems with LA’s jail system--millions of dollars wasted on a revolving door and no accountability for the people in charge of running the largest jail system in the world,” said Reform L.A. Jails Chair and proponent Patrisse Cullors.
“LA’s jail system is broken. It’s costly and ineffective, wasting millions of dollars to incarcerate people struggling with mental illness, addiction and homelessness and there’s also no accountability for misconduct and abuse by sheriff’s deputies,” continued Cullors. “John Legend continues to be a champion for social justice and we’re humbled in L.A. to have his support of the Reform L.A. Jails ballot measure.”
The Reform Jails and Community Reinvestment Initiative will also task the Civilian Oversight Commission with developing a Comprehensive Public Safety Reinvestment Plan (the “Plan”) and Feasibility Study to reduce jail populations and to redirect the cost savings to alternatives to incarceration.
The Plan will pave the way for the County of Los Angeles to reduce recidivism, prevent crime, and permanently reduce the population of people cycling into and out of jail that are experiencing mental health, drug dependency, or chronic homelessness issues.
Reform L.A. Jails needs to collect 170,000 signatures of registered voters in Los Angeles County to qualify for the November 2018 ballot. To get involved with the campaign and to sign the petition, please visit www.ReformLAJails.com.
May 24, 2018
By Jennifer Bihm
Contributing Writer
Community leaders and residents have come out recently in support of Watts Towers Art Center Director Rosie Lee Hooks, who was suspended last month for commissioning a mural of jazz great Charles Mingus on the youth art center named for him ten years ago. The Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs suspended Hooks for three weeks without pay, calling it a “personnel issue”, having to do with her not going through the proper channels to get the mural painted. Maybe so, say her supporters, but this punishment far outweighs her crime.
“Ms. Hooks has a longstanding and positive history with the Watts community,” said Assemblymember Mike Gipson, who requested that Mayor Eric Garcetti lift the suspension.
“I am confident to say that she has and continues to demonstrate a positive track record of commitment and dedication to the Watts community. It is my belief of what Ms. Hooks is being accused of is not having followed proper procedure in adding the mural of Watts’ son and Jazz great, Charlie Mingus. I do not believe that such an action warrants a crime or discipline. Ms. Hooks has merely followed in the tradition of past directors of the Arts Center to bring attention to the artistic heritage of Watts.”
“For all she does, with the limited resources given to her by DCA, it’s very small-minded for them to suspend her for putting up a mural of Charles Mingus on the Charles Mingus building,” Chioma Agbahiwe, Hooks supporter vice president of the Watts Towers Community Action Council told reporters.
Hailed as one of the most important figures in twentieth century American music, Mingus was raised in Watts and had been privy to the Watts Towers’ inception. He wrote about Watts Towers constructor/ artist Simon Rodia in his autobiography.
“At that time in Watts there was an Italian man, named Simon Rodia – though some people said his name was Sabatino Rodella, and his neighbors called him Sam. He had a regular job as a tile setter, but on weekends and at nighttime, under lights he strung up, he was building something strange and mysterious and he’d been working on it since before my boy was born. Nobody knew what it was or what it was for,” Mingus wrote.
“Mr. Rodia was usually cheerful and friendly while he worked, and sometimes, drinking that good red wine from a bottle, he rattled off about Amerigo Vespucci, Julius Caesar, Buffalo Bill and all kinds of things he read about in the old encyclopedia he had in his house, but most of the time it sounded to Charles like he was speaking a foreign language. My boy marveled at what he was doing and felt sorry for him when the local rowdies came around and taunted him and threw rocks and called him crazy, though Mr. Rodia didn’t seem to pay them much mind. Years later when Charles was grown and went back to Watts he saw three fantastic spires standing there – the tallest was over a hundred feet high. By then Rodia had finally finished his work and given it all to a neighbor as a present and gone away, no one knew where.”
Hooks has been described as an internationally honored community arts administrator and educator. She has served twice as interim director of the WTAC, and was appointed director in 2002. She was previously director of Festivals for the City’s Cultural Affairs Department and produced the first Central Avenue Jazz Festival and established the prestigious WTAC Jazz Mentorship Program.
“Ms. Hooks has a longstanding and positive history with the Watts community,” Gipson said.
“She has devoted the better part of two decades to the Watts Towers Day of the Drum Festival and the Simon Rodia Watts Towers Jazz Festival. It is my opinion that any disturbance in the production of these two festivals could affect or diminish its community legacy. It is also my understanding that there may be attempts to contract out the production of these festivals. Any such action could be regarded as a serious affront not only to the Watts community but to the music community that has participated in the festivals and the Arts Center’s Jazz Mentorship Program over the years as well…”
On April 17, community members in support of WTAC, held a meeting about the suspension, where they questioned Assistant General Manager Daniel Tarica of the Department of Cultural Affairs, they said, who stated that “procedures were being properly followed for a personnel matter which he could not discuss.”
“Mr. Tarica did not address the affront expressed by the Watts community over the arts educator’s suspension, or statements from community members that the Department’s action against Ms. Hooks appears to be an act of vindictive retribution for her strong support of community issues,” some of Hooks’ supporters wrote in a statement released to the media.
“He also dismissed fears over the effects the action will have on Hooks’ production of the upcoming Watts Towers Annual Day of the Drum and Simon Rodia Watts Towers Jazz Festivals for which Ms. Hooks is the principal producer…”
Ms. Hooks’ union, the Engineers & Architects Association has filed an appeal of the suspension but the hearing will not be held until June. Hooks is now serving the second week of her suspension. After the Task Force meeting, the union affirmed to the support groups,
“We remain steadfast in our advocacy for Rosie Lee and offer any assistance the Watts community needs to end the blatant harassment of an adored arts educator.”
For his part, Garcetti released the following statement via his press secretary Anna Bahr, “Anyone who has experienced the Watts Towers Arts Center knows that it is a Los Angeles treasure. The Mayor expects personnel matters to be resolved responsibly, and he values the patrons, community members, and staff who love the Center and make it such a special place in the life of our city.”
May 17, 2018
LAWT News Service
Building on an array of promising successes, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a $402-million spending plan for 2018-2019 to widen and intensify its fight against homelessness.
The five-member Board unanimously adopted dozens of recommendations for the second-year budget of Measure H, the voter-approved quarter-cent sales tax dedicated exclusively to providing services and programs to combat the homelessness crisis.
Jamal Dunn, a resident of the Fiesta apartments in the San Fernando Valley, credits Measure H with helping him out of homelessness.
The newly adopted budget targets a number of critical strategies in the County’s comprehensive Homeless Action Plan. It includes $120 million for shelter and interim housing, $73 million for rapid rehousing, $49 million for permanent supportive housing, and $30 million for outreach.
The plan expands on spending priorities adopted by the supervisors for Measure H’s first year, but provides greater flexibility to meet emerging challenges and trends, such as the growing number of encampments throughout the county.
“Today’s vote was an important milestone in continuing the difficult and essential work of bringing help and hope to our homeless neighbors,” said Board Chair Sheila Kuehl. “The Measure H spending plan approved today by the Board builds on proven strategies and puts resources where they’re needed most.
“As we enter the second year of this unprecedented effort,” she added, “it’s encouraging to see this collaborative process going forward in ways that are literally saving lives.”
Supervisor Hilda L. Solis said the new Measure H spending plan offers hope for the “tens of thousands of Angelenos who live on the streets, in their cars, or in the homes of friends or family.”
“Today’s passage of Measure H funding expands our effort to make a positive impact in the lives of many of our homeless friends and neighbors,” Solis said. “We will continue to do everything in our power to address the homelessness crisis through collaboration and innovative solutions that help lift up our most vulnerable residents.”
The Board of Supervisors stand together in front of a sculpture of a massive door that is the logo of the “Everyone In” campaign aimed at engaging the public in the fight against homelessness.
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas emphasized the importance of prevention and support.
“Thanks to Measure H, we are expanding and recharging our crisis response to homelessness while, at the same time, funding programs to keep people from becoming homeless in the first place,” he said. “Measure H is funding everything you need to move people into housing, and all that it takes to make sure they stay in housing and thrive.
“We must work together,” he said, “to make sure every person who calls L.A. County home is able to live a life of dignity and purpose.”
Supervisor Janice Hahn praised the County’s progress since voters passed Measure H but cautioned that “we recognize we have a long way to go.”
“We are building new partnerships, we are adapting to new problems, and we are doubling down in our groundbreaking efforts to get people off of the streets and into housing,” Hahn said.
Added Supervisor Kathryn Barger: “We are seeing despair transition to hope. From housing to mental health care, I look forward to continuing our efforts to address every facet of the homelessness crisis.”
Supervisors hold a joint press conference at the Hall of Administration.
Measure H was passed by voters in March 2017, with services beginning the following July. In the nine months between then and March 2018, thousands of individuals and families have been helped.
The County is on track to meet the initial five-year goal of Measure H—to provide permanent housing for 45,000 families and individuals, while preventing an additional 30,000 from falling into homelessness.
Among the most important successes so far:
• 10,330 people entered crisis, bridge and interim housing funded in whole or in part by Measure H.
• 5,239 homeless families and individuals secured permanent housing due specifically to funding from Measure H.
• 2,195 clients were linked to new Intensive Case Management Services slots for permanent supportive housing, 1,108 clients received federal rental subsidies and 808 clients received local rental subsidies.
• The L.A. County Housing Authority provided $880,686 in incentives to landlords to help secure 403 housing units for disabled homeless adults/families with a federal rental subsidy.
• In growing numbers, multidisciplinary outreach teams have worked across the County to address the immediate needs of homeless residents and link them to programs and services.
• Countywide Benefits Entitlement Services Teams helped 5,703 disabled individuals with applications for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Veterans Disability Benefits.
• Homeless service providers added more than 1,000 new jobs across the region to bolster the delivery system. The County is supporting this rapid expansion through an online hub linking job seekers to non-profits at JobsCombattingHomelessness.org.
For more information on the county’s Homeless Initiative and Measure H, please visit homeless.lacounty.gov.
May 17, 2018
Staff Report
26-year-old Deshay Murphy received an early Mother’s Day gift when her $30,000 bail was posted allowing her to be released from Los Angeles County’s Century Regional Detention Facility for women in Lynwood several days before Mother’s Day. The mother of a 4-year-old daughter, Ms. Murphy is 8 ½ months pregnant and had been incarcerated since April 13, 2018, when she was arrested following a family domestic dispute. Murphy’s release was a coordinated effort of the National Black Mama’s Bail Out Day campaign #FreeBlackMamas that will give incarcerated mothers around the country an opportunity to spend Mother’s Day with their families and build community through gatherings that highlight the impact of inhumane and destructive bail practices on local communities. Murphy joined her attorney and community organizations to discuss the National Black Mama’s Bail Out Day Campaign and call attention to the unfair cash money bail system and bail reform efforts.
“Ms. Murphy’s case illustrates the unjust impact of pretrial detention on Black families, said Los Angeles Community Action Network executive director Pete White. “Upon hearing of her case, LACAN immediately identified Ms. Murphy as someone we needed to help so she could return to her 4-year-old daughter, resume pregnancy in a safe environment, and be home for Mother’s Day.”
White says LACAN hosted a baby shower for the expectant mother last Friday.
Since May 2017, over 14,000 people have donated to bring nearly 200 mothers home to their families and communities in Oakland, Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, Montgomery, Memphis, Durham, Atlanta, Houston, New York City, Little Rock, Charlottesville, Charlotte, Kinston, Birmingham, Baltimore, Philadelphia, St. Louis and the D.C. area. Locally in Los Angeles, community organization Los Angeles Community Action Network (LACAN) teamed up with Creative Artists Agency to raise the money to bail out Ms. Murphy.
“The current money bail system traps Black people and keeps us in bondage,” said Patrisse Cullors, founder of Dignity & Power Now. “It’s that much worse when you are pregnant and vulnerable. We believe no pregnant person should sit in a jail cell under any circumstances. Let’s commit to freeing our folks who are languishing inside of prison because they are poor.”
UCLA Professor and Million Dollar Hoods Project lead researcher Kelly Lytle Hernandez added, “In California, most of us have the right to freedom before trial. But that right comes at a price--money bail. In most cases, the price of freedom will never be refunded. Therefore, we are charging people for their constitutional right to freedom. It is time to rethink our money bail system. Nothing less than justice and freedom are at stake.”
Lytle Hernandez is the author of “City of Inmates,” a chronicle on how native elimination, immigrant exclusion, and black disappearance drove the rise of incarceration in Los Angeles.
The National Bail Out collective is a formation of Black organizers who are committed to building a community-based movement to end pretrial detention and ultimately mass incarceration and includes Southerners on New Ground, the Movement for Black Lives, Color of Change and other groups that have worked to raise nearly $1 million to bail out people all over the country.
The #FreeBlackMamas campaign highlights the impact of pretrial detention on Black families and how states like California’s bail system unfairly punishes the poor.