Taft CCF sits empty awaiting L.A. County vote

Contrary to published reports, plans to reopen the Taft Community Correctional Facility are on hold after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors failed to act last week on a contract to take inmates from L.A. County's rapidly filling jails and house them in Taft's empty facility.

The city was hoping to start accepting inmates on Sept. 10 and be running at full capacity a month later after Taft and L.A. County reached a tentative agreement that was ratified by the Taft City Council on Aug. 13.

Now, it looks like the facility will not open before Oct.1, and that's assuming L.A. County approves the contract at its next meeting on Sept. 4.
The contract was on the agenda for  the Aug. 14 L.A. County meeting but it was tabled.

There were conflicting reasons given.

Chief of Police Ed Whiting  said he was told the L.A. County Supervisors just wanted more time to study the agreement before voting on it.

That was confirmed by a statement an L.A. County spokesman made to some media outlets.

But other sources have said the item was pulled because Supervisor Gloria Molina was on vacation. The Democrat could be a swing vote, several sources have told the Midway Driller.

In the meantime, the reopening of the CCF is on hold.

“There's a lot of things we have to do and we can't do those things until they sign the contract,” Whiting said Monday morning. “It will take use 20 to 30 days to open the doors once they sign the contract.”