One of the most common questions asked by someone facing time in a Los Angeles County jail is, “How much time will I actually serve in an LA County jail?” Before the passage of Proposition 47, the answer was generally “about 10% for non-violent crimes.” That meant that on a 180 day sentence for a non-violent offense, you would be sentenced to serve 90 actual days (LA County jail inmates usually get 1 day credit for 1 day served). Due to overcrowding, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department would release inmates after only doing about 10% of the time. So that meant of the actual 90 days, the defendant would only serve about 9 days.
Prop 47 was enacted by California voters in November of 2014. The law reduced many non-violent felonies to misdemeanors, many of which do not carry jail time. As a result, the Los Angeles County jail population has dropped significantly. This means the jails are no longer overcrowded. In fact, I recently heard from someone housed at Pitchess Detention Center that it was the first time he’d ever seen empty beds there.
So what does this mean if you’re looking at an LA County jail sentence? It means that if you’re sentenced to half time on that 180 day sentence, you’ll actually do all 90 days.
In a recent interview with KPCC, LA County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Jodi Sharp said that “the Sheriff’s Department has seen far fewer inmate bookings in the months since Prop 47’s passage.” The KPCC story goes on to state that “there were more than 22,000 bookings in September and October. Prop 47 passed in November. In November and December there were less than 16,000 bookings, a 23 percent decrease.”
Prosecutors now know that LA County jail time is a real threat and they are negotiating accordingly. Before Prop 47 defense lawyers would roll their eyes when DAs and City Attorneys threw around jail threats, but these threats are now real. This is why it’s all the more important to vigorously fight your case and make sure your lawyer is prepared and ready to do what’s needed to keep you out of jail.
If you or a loved one is fighting a criminal charge, whether you are facing jail time or not, contact a qualified and experienced Los Angeles criminal defense attorney. For a free consultation, call criminal defense attorney Jerod Gunsberg in Los Angeles at (323) 633-3423 or get in touch via the secure contact form on this page for a free and confidential consultation.