Los Angeles City Hall imprisoned

   How is it that being one of the largest and most populated cities in the world , Los Angeles has developed a series of prisons that surrounds city hall.  Looking from a simple aerial shot of downtown Los Angeles one can see , or count up to five prisons less than a mile from city hall. With the reflection of the prison industry so close to the heart of the city it is clear just how embedded the government and the prison industry are to each other. Yet, what has made Los Angeles' development of Prison culture so profound is not due to the development of the facilities that surround city hall. Los Angeles has always struggled with law and control of residents.

 
From the development of the Pueblo days to the turning of the jurisdiction of California and territories to the United States. Vigilantes and criminals both have come to the west looking for sunshine and wealth. Furthermore, Los Angeles has a had a quite unusual experience with the development of institutionalization. Typically county jails are located relatively near a center point of town (with the sheriffs station), and such took place in 1781 with the development of the first jailhouse located within the Plaza. However, this does not justify the development of one 13 floor facility, another 6 floors reserved in the hall of justice, a U.S. court house, a Criminal court system, and a federal complex that are located within the direct radius of city hall. Outside of the primary radius is about three other facilities, one is abandon and the other no longer stands. The original Los Angeles county jail located across the street from the Los Angeles court house underwent renovations some time after the new Los Angeles County jail project in Lincoln heights completed construction in the 1920's. The Lincoln Heights facility sits untouched while inmates in modern times serve sentences either in Metropolitan detention center or Men's central detention center-- which is less than a mile from the Metropolitan facilty.

   What is the meaning of the all these jails, well for starters Los Angeles may appear as a large populated city with thriving industries, but that is not the case. Los Angeles thrives in prisons and crime. Not to say it is any more dangerous in L.A. then else where, but what makes L.A. a top contender is the amount of individuals incarcerated. not only is Los Angeles exceeding state and national inmate levels. Los Angeles maintains its prison population in the heart of the city.  California has developed prisons along rural communities since the 1980's. It very well is is argued that new developments outside city limits comes from the lack of land to develop within the city, or to control inmate populations by removing them from there family. If city officials built one more jail within the city limits. Los angles would literally be surrounded in prisons.