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How to Contact Us
Los Angeles County Jail (Men)
Tele: (213) 893-5246
Fax: (213) 626-7859
E-mail: msosa@lasd.org
Los Angeles County Jail (Women)
Tele: (323) 568-4704
Fax: (323) 568-4707
E-mail: SRSchulm@lasd.org
Mailing Address
464 E. Walnut St.
Pasadena, CA 91101
info@friendsousidela.org
Although it is not a popular pursuit, there are a number of good reasons to provide services to inmates. The reasons benefit us all:
• 95% of all inmates are released back into our communities. Very few, approximately 5%, will have received treatment while incarceratedl for the problems that led to their incarceration.
• Inmates who maintain family ties are are more likely to make successful transitions back to the community.
• Without intervention, inmates will likely return to custody, at a cost to taxpayers of $35,000 per inmate per year, or more.
• Alternatives to incarceration, such as treatment for substance abuse, can beless expensive than incarceration and address problems that contributed to incarceration.
Friends Outside’s services are amongst those that are recommended by criminal justice professionals and academicians as being conducive to reductions in criminal activity, both for inmates as well as for their children.
Do you know the difference between a jail and a prison?
Answer: In general, a jail is for inmates awaiting sentence or with short sentences. A prison is for inmates with sentences of 1+ years or parolees who return to prison on a parole “revocation.”
Jail-Based Services
The goal of Friends Outside’s Jail-Based Services is to improve the likelihood of success upon release. All services are free and are provided in English and Spanish. Services include:
Advocacy: Assistance to access other jail-based services, such as educational programs, and medical or mental health services, and to improve communication with parole agents, public defenders, probation officers and children’s social workers
Emotional Support: One-to-one jail visits with non-judgmental staff and volunteers
Family Communications Support: Assistance communicating with family members (emergencies only) and with children’s social workers
Release Planning: Assistance planning for release; Referrals to community-based services
Supplies: 12-Step Materials; Inmate Voting Brochure; Prescriptive eyewear (as available)
PATA
(Placement and Transportatioin Assistance
for Incarcerated Substance Abusers)Are you a public defender or private attorney?
Do you have defendants who qualify for
substance abuse treatment in lieu of jail time?
Are you too busy to do the necessary footwork
to place defendants into treatment programs?
Friends Outside Can Help: PATA has placed hundreds of inmates into treatment. We can provide the following assistance to you:
• Assessment of defendant before court appearance;
• Contact and follow-up with reputable treatment programs until space is found;
• Confirmation of placement forwarded to you prior to court;
• Transportation of defendant to treatment program;
• On-going follow-up regarding the defendant’s status with you and other interested parties, including judges and probation officers.Why Choose Friends Outside? Friends Outside is a nonprofit organization. All program revenue is used to support our free services for families affected by incarceration and their incarcerated/formerly incarcerated loved ones. These services are available from our community-based offices in Pasadena, Watts, and Long Beach, and include an after-school program for children with incarcerated parents, job assistance, emergency food, bus tokens, emotional support, support groups, client advocacy, information about the criminal justice system, and resource referrals.
Our one-time fees are billable through “PACE”, and include the following services:
$200/defendant: Assessment, Placement, Transportation, and On-going follow-up for the duration of treatment.
$100/defendant: Transportation and On-going follow-up for the duration of treatment. An additional $50 ser charge is added to any transports that are longer than 40 miles, one-way.Next Steps: Fax the signed PACE appointment order and signed court order to Martin Sosa at (626) 795-1476. The court order must specify the release of your defendant as follows: “only to a representative of Friends Outside for transport to (name of program).” A signed appointment order may be used in lieu of the signed PACE appointment order form if it specifies that Friends Outside is “appointed” or “authorized by the court” to provide services. Most placements can be made within 10 working days of your referral.
For More Information: Contact Martin Sosa (213) 974-4859 (voice mail), or Russell Linderman, (626) 795-7607, ext. 102.