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Sheriff Baca is reponsible for running one of the largest jails in the world. Legislators require lengthier sentences, but do not provide the funds to provide jail space for the large numbers of offenders.
Paris Hilton was guilty of a probation violation of a non-violent misdemeanor. The Sheriff must obey a federal injunction limiting the number of inmates in the L.A. County Jail.
A psychiatrist and two psychologists reported to the Sheriff that Hilton was suffering serous mental disorders. One time middle class or upper class offenders such as Paris Hilton are the highest suicide risks during their short incarceration times.
The Judge has been on the bench for 28 years. Yet he is limited to hearing traffic arraignments and probation violation on traffic sentences. The City Attorney who wants higher office were offended. So the Judge and City Attorney issue press releases and supplanted the Sheriff in running the Jail.
When will the American public's lust to see their fellow citizens imprisoned cease?
Reporters brought the courthouse to a stand still and the Hilton matter dominated the news. On this same day, President Bush was being ostracized in the Group of Eight Summitt. The immigration compromise bill was unraveling in the United States Senate. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was forced into retirement rather than face a hostile Senate confirmation. The every increasing deaths of American soldiers in Iraq continued with another bad day.
But the Paris Hilton story dominated the space in Salon, the New York Times, Washington Post, and the news networks.
Al Gore has it right. This is not how a democracy should be functioning.
