Prisoners Mental Health

Relatives of seven people killed in a 1976 mass shooting at Cal State Fullerton are trying to build a national campaign of victim rights groups, law enforcement organizations and elected officials to oppose the release of gunman Edward Charles Allaway. With a state mental hospital now recommending Allaway's release, the victims' families said it's essential that they organize to keep the mass killer in custody.

Relatives of seven people killed in a 1976 mass shooting at Cal State Fullerton are trying to build a national campaign of victim rights groups, law enforcement organizations and elected officials to oppose the release of gunman Edward Charles Allaway. With a state mental hospital now recommending Allaway's release, the victims' families said it's essential that they organize to keep the mass killer in custody.

A federal judge is holding the California Department of Corrections in contempt for failing to provide adequate mental health care at the medical prison at Vacaville, and has taken the initial steps toward fining the state $10,000 a day. In a ruling issued Thursday, U.S.

Despite efforts by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to patch up its trouble-plagued jail system, custody officials continue to struggle with an antiquated system that has "been unraveling faster than [it] can be fixed," according to a report released Monday.

Despite efforts by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to patch up its trouble-plagued jail system, custody officials continue to struggle with an antiquated system that has "been unraveling faster than [it] can be fixed," according to a report released Monday.

Re "Rx to thin California prison population," column, Feb. 22 Steve Lopez's column has an answer for dealing with prisoners with mental health problems. If 20% to 25% of prisoners have mental health problems, it is time that we segregated those inmates into prisons designed for solving mental health problems. Instead of lockups, we need hospitals. This type of prison certainly needs locks on the doors, but nurses instead of prison guards. We should let prisoners go home on probation when doctors decide they are cured.

A federal judge on Friday rejected Gov. Jerry Brown's claim that California has improved inmate care enough to end 17 years of court oversight of its less-crowded prisons. Brown has vowed to challenge any such rejection, if need be, before the same U.S. Supreme Court that less than two years ago deemed California prison conditions shocking. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton's decision is a blow to Brown's larger ambition to remove court caps on prison crowding and end court control over a $1.6-billion prison medical program.

Nearly 500 inmates fought Wednesday in racially charged melees at Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, marking a fifth day of violence in the Los Angeles County jail system and underscoring officials' inability to stop unrest tied to street conflicts between Latino and black gangs. The toll in recent days has been high: one dead, at least 28 hospitalized and nearly 90 injured in rioting in the nation's largest jail system.

A federal judge is holding the California Department of Corrections in contempt for failing to provide adequate mental health care at the medical prison at Vacaville, and has taken the initial steps toward fining the state $10,000 a day. In a ruling issued Thursday, U.S.