CLUB LOCKUP

Money can buy happiness for some jail inmates

An ad placed in LA Weekly by the city of Seal Beach asks: “Why spend your jail sentence of 365 days or less at county?” The ad goes on to describe what your money can buy: “Work Release - Flat Screen TVs - Computer/Media RM - Clean Facility - New Beds”

It is my understanding that there are several California jails that provide Pay-to-Stay upgrades.

Luxury confinement accommodations are nothing new. Back in the ‘60s I visited the La Mesa state prison in Tijuana where inmates got what they paid for. La Mesa looked more like a small town than a penal institution. There were taco stands, a bakery, and even a Chinese restaurant inside the compound. Inmates without any money were given a blanket and had to sleep on the streets. Those with a little money could rent rooms with mattresses. And those with lots of money, like drug dealers or inmates from wealthy families, could rent air-conditioned houses and hire other inmates as cooks and servants.

Hmm, I wonder if the Seal Beach luxury detention program will become available to California’s realignment inmates?

INMATES CAN PAY FOR LUXURY CELLS IN SEAL BEACH JAIL
Inmates must apply and go through an interview process before being admitted to the upgraded cells

By Ron Rokhy

NBC LA
August 1, 2013

Inmates are being courted by an Orange County jail that is offering flat-screen TVs, brand new beds and other luxury items not often found behind bars.

The Seal Beach Detention Center, which was shut down in 2007 due to its poor financial health only to reopen a year later, is charging inmates between $100 to $120 per day to indulge in their pay-to-stay program.

For a daily price, inmates can enjoy brand new beds, flat-screen TVs and media centers, according to an ad placed by the deparment in LA Weekly.

The pay-to-stay program is expected to rake in $400,000 for the jail, according to the 2013-14 Seal Beach Adopted Budget. The jail gets $720,000 from the city to operate.

The program was created to offset the expenses of street arrests, according to a spokesperson for the Seal Beach Police Department.

Inmates must apply and go through an interview process before being admitted, according to the city’s website.

There are no specific criteria that determine who gets accepted and decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, the spokesperson said.

Those accepted are housed in cells that have TVs with cable, but are not in a different part of the jail, officials said. Inmates may not watch TV after lights out, which starts at 10 p.m.

Additionally, inmates in the program may work outside of the jail wearing a GPS tracking device, if approved by the city court, according to the city's website.

The detention center can house up to 30 inmates.