The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department currently
houses an average of more than 17,000 inmates daily. To assist in the
daunting task of providing services and meals to inmates, the Department
looks to its Inmate Services and Food Services Units. Lieutenant Robert
Hudson, who commands the Inmate Services Unit, and Lieutenant Alice Scott,
commander of the Food Services Unit, were recently announced as recipients
of National Association of Counties’ Achievement Awards for 2004.
Through the efforts of the Inmate Services Unit, significant innovations have
been made to help improve the safety of inmates and staff within the jails. The
unit also helps impact community safety by facilitating programs in life-skills
training and therapy interventions, community transition activities that pair
inmates with service providers for housing, health, counseling, job placement,
and education outside the jail environment. These programs demonstrated that
they directly lower the number of disturbances in the jail, while the number
of inmates attending school programs on a full-time basis has risen dramatically.
The Food Services Unit is responsible for overseeing the preparation and distribution
of more than 51,000 meals each day. The nutritional content of these meals is
set forth by state regulations to ensure inmates eat properly. In 2003, the Food
Services Unit instituted a “Cold Breakfast Program,” replacing the
hot breakfast meal with a cold breakfast similar to one enjoyed outside the jail
environment. With budget constraints the County of Los Angeles faces, this transition
has been responsible for an approximate annual savings of $1.5 million, while
still complying with the food regulations!
These two units epitomize the resourcefulness of Sheriff’s Department members.
Acknowledging the need to constantly re-evaluate the way we operate, the Inmate
Services and Food Services Units will continue to lead the way into the future
of jail operations.
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