Twin Towers Correctional Facility

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USGS Aerial Photo - the prison is in the lower right quadrant

The Twin Towers Correctional Facility, also referred to in the media as Twin Towers Jail, is a complex erected in Los Angeles, California to house inmates of the Los Angeles County Courts; it is the world’s largest jail.[1][2] The facility comprises a male psychiatric ward in Tower One, and a female jail in Tower Two. The facility is located at 450 Bauchet Street, in Los Angeles, and is operated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

The 1.5 million square foot (140,000 m²) complex was opened in 1997. It was authorized and constructed after the Northridge Earthquake damaged the historic Hall of Justice at 210 West Temple Street in Los Angeles. Security at the facility centers on a modern panoptic design that allows Deputies and Officers in a central control room to look through secure optical material to see into all areas of the facility.

Twin Towers Correctional Facility

[edit] Concerns

Despite the state-of-the-art security systems built into the jail, inmate Kevin Pullum walked out an employee exit on July 6, 2001, two hours after being convicted of attempted murder, and remained at large for eighteen days before he was apprehended within a mile (1.6 km) of the jail. Pullum used a newspaper photograph of actor Eddie Murphy to alter an identification badge he used in the escape.

The jail has come under fire from human rights advocates as a central focus in the use of psychiatric drugs to control prisoners.

Female deputies and officers may be present during processing of male prisoners. Their access is not restricted during the period prisoners are naked and waiting to be issued a jumpsuit.