LA County Improves Jail Mental Health Services and Wait Times in Inmate Reception Center

County Reaches 6-Month Compliance Milestone in Settlement with ACLU

LA County has reached an important milestone in Rutherford v. Luna, a case that addresses, in part, the County’s need to improve conditions and reduce wait times for housing for inmates passing through the Inmate Reception Center upon entry to the Los Angeles County Jail system. The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and the Department of Health Services’ Correctional Health Services, working together and with the Chief Executive Office DOJ Compliance Office and other County partners, have significantly improved the IRC through a series of corrective actions to shorten wait times and speed medical and mental health screening for individuals arriving at the LA County Jails.

As of July 2025, the LASD and LA County have been in substantial compliance with all IRC-related requirements set by Rutherford v. Luna for six consecutive months without interruption. This is a critical landmark in the Stipulated Order and a testament to the dedicated and collaborative work led by LASD, CHS, and other County departments to implement and sustain rapid improvements since resolving a contempt motion with the ACLU in June 2023.

“I am incredibly proud of the hardworking and dedicated custody staff at the Inmate Reception Center who have helped us reach six months of sustained compliance with the Rutherford settlement agreement,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert G. Luna. “This milestone represents a significant step forward in improving conditions at the IRC and protecting the rights and well-being of those in our custody. While we celebrate this progress, we must remain focused on the persistent challenges within our jail system. The lack of sufficient specialty housing for those who enter the jail system with significant medical conditions, substance use disorders, and mental health needs continues to be a growing concern and a serious threat to our compliance efforts.”

The improvements come as County departments are working on multiple fronts to improve conditions in the jails and come into full compliance with settlement agreements with the United States Department of Justice, as well as Rutherford court orders.

“We recognize that this is a long journey, but these milestones are making meaningful improvements in the day-to-day experiences of inmates and staff alike,” said Maggie Carter, Chief DOJ Compliance Officer for LA County. “Departments are achieving these gains despite significant challenges and are working hard to build on this momentum to fulfill our other obligations and deliver much-needed change to the jails.”

County departments have achieved the following improvements:

Developed technological solutions to better track wait times

• Implemented a new Shared Intake Management System that uses wristband scanner technology integrated with Sheriff’s Department systems to track, monitor, and implement the timely movement of people through the intake process to reduce wait times. LASD staff spent in excess of 1,000 hours developing, writing, testing, and revising this critical tool for staying within the Rutherford-allowed timeframes.

Amplified training

• Retrained staff on legal requirements for IRC conditions and wait times.

Increased and maintained critical staffing

• Expanded the number of Correctional Health Services staff providing mental health services in the IRC, including embedding additional psychiatric staff;
• Prioritized LASD staffing for Rutherford compliance, notwithstanding significant department-wide staffing shortages that increased the challenge of achieving this important accomplishment. LASD assigned deputies to fill existing vacancies in custody operations, and deputies and custody assistants assigned to IRC worked an average of 8 mandatory overtime spots per month, in addition to their normal 40-hour work weeks;
• Added a 24/7 compliance sergeant in the IRC;
• Expanded the number of cleaning crews and sanitation checks in the IRC; and
• Offered bonuses of up to 20% for more than 1,900 Correctional Health Services employees working in the jails to help retain and recruit staff in key jail-based clinical, case management, technical, and administrative positions.

Expedited the movement of people out of County jails

• LASD actively engaged state agencies to expedite the transfer of individuals ordered to their facilities. From February 2023 through April 2025, the County achieved a 61% decline in the population waiting for transfer to state prison, and an 80% decline in the population waiting for transfer to state hospitals; and
• The County has also aggressively expanded the network of community treatment beds for those who can be safely released from jail and treated in the community, surpassing the Rutherford goals set by the Department of Health Services Office of Diversion and Reentry (ODR) and the Department of Mental Health (DMH). For Fiscal Year 2024-25, the County set a goal of achieving a total of 4,668 treatment placements. ODR has surpassed that goal and reached 4,697 total placements across its three programs. DMH also surpassed its goal of 164 new beds for FY2023-2024 and FY2024-2025, adding a total of 168 beds over the course of the past two fiscal years.

This set of improvements has led to dramatic decreases in wait times for individuals in the IRC and shows the County’s commitment to caring for individuals processing through the IRC.

This multi-faceted work is being carried out by a wide range of LA County departments and divisions—including LASD, CHS, CEO, the Justice, Care, and Opportunities Department (JCOD), DMH, and ODR—and relies on many others, including our justice partners in the courts and various State agencies, to sustain these improvements.

Contact: Maggie Carter, Chief DOJ Compliance Officer, DOJCompliance@ceo.lacounty.gov.

For more information on the DOJ Compliance Office, please visit: ceo.lacounty.gov/doj-compliance-office/.

The DOJ Compliance Office was established in February 2023 to drive Los Angeles County’s compliance with the remaining provisions of a 2015 settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) to improve conditions in the County’s jail system for those with mental health conditions. The DOJ Compliance Office also supports County efforts to comply with Rutherford v. Luna (jail overcrowding) and Rosas v. Luna (use of force in the downtown jail facilities).Our objective is to help County departments fully meet court-approved goals under the settlement even as the percentage of people in custody with severe mental health issues has steadily increased over the past several years.

More information can be found at ceo.lacounty.gov/doj-compliance-office/.