Jail sentences for first time offenders of non-violent crimes like larceny or fraud or DUI and some more controversial cases have an expanded list of choices on how the punishment may be served. There’s a long list of Southern California jails where the pay-to-stay program is available as an option for qualified offenders. These locations offer semi-private cells that look more like dorm rooms or small apartments, each with a recreational space, televisions (some cable channels), music and publication library, provided meals that can be eaten at a dining table in the space, reasonable closed bathroom and shower spaces, closets, and laundry service, and some in-room refrigerators and in-room phones are also available. Some even extend the privilege of going to work while serving your sentence, or permit you to be jailed on weekends only, or in some programs you participate as a trustee and have the option to remain resident or go home at night.
Not all the facilities can or will accept offenders who require special medication, and there are limited options for women in these programs. Depending on the county court through which you were processed, you need to investigate whether or not your sentence or personal conditions qualify you for a pay-to-stay jail option. Keep in mind that the process is not cheap. Statistics from Glendale in 2014 show that the city collected over $60,000 from 263 separate pay to stay cases; the average totaled about $236 per inmate, but assume that some served short sentences while others languished for 30-days at about 100 per day, and on some days there might have been only one inmate. In the case of a two-year sentence in pay-to-stay, it was recorded that an inmate’s sentence cost $72,000 out of pocket in Seal Beach, CA – which equates to $3000 for living expenses per month (100.00 per day).
Too much television or too many jail movies cast an aura of suspicion over the care rendered by most of the larger jails housing a mixed population. Clients who can afford it can, under the express conditions noted, buy their way into a more comfortable setting. This is an individual choice, and truly, if you can do it … why wouldn’t you?
Examples of Work Furlough and Trustee Pay-to-Stay
City of Hawthorne in Los Angeles County (unknown limit)
Option A) FREE per day, requires about 50.00 non-refundable processing fee for TB shot and weekend admisstion – Arrive at 7:00am – depart at 3:00pm, perform duties like wash cars, do laundry, landscape work. Each day operates at 1/3 credit toward sentence, so it will take 45 weekends to complete a 30-day sentence.
Option B) 75 per day, do all the duties of Option A with full credit for each day and stay in a dorm assignment for the duration of the sentence. Brief sentences like a 5-day petty larceny or traffic fines would cost about $ 375 and be over.
City of Anaheim in Orange County (unknown limit)
Work Furlough – Pay to Stay – $125/first day, and $100 for each additional day. Two weeks pay is required in advance and approved medications are permitted (per the facility manager’s approval) with waivers because 1) there are no on-site nurses to administer special drugs and 2) only approved psychotropic medication will be permitted and this does not include combustable medication (e.g. no medical marijuana). Work is expected within and outside the facility as needed or directed. There can be no history of violence or violence in the charge for incarceration.
City of Fullerton in Orange County (occupancy 1)
$100 for the first day and $75 per day thereafter and perform duties as assigned by the Police Department like wash cars and perform landscape work.
City of Newport Beach Trustee Program (remain in custody)
FREE per day, not permitted off-premises, perform menial tasks internal to police station and maintenance, like janitorial work, distributing meals, cleaning up cells. Break the rules and you go back to main lockup in Santa Ana. Hey how bad can the weather or environment be?
Pay to Stay (While You Keep Your Day Job)
City of Huntington Beach in Orange County
Pay $125 for the first day and $75 per day thereafter. You may leave for your job on workdays and must return at night.
Pay to Stay Generic – Los Angeles and Orange Counties
Greater Los Angeles County Area contact numbers for Pay to Stay
- Azusa (626)812-3200
- Burbank (818)238-3000
- Culver City (310)837-1221
- Gardena (310)217-9600
- Glendale (818)548-4840
- Glendora (626)914-8250
- Hawthorne, Officer John Dixon at 310-349-2775
- Hermosa Beach (310 )318-0360, contact Angela Jenentz $175/day
- Huntington Park (323 )584-6254
- La Verne (909 )596-1913
- Montebello (323 )887-1212
- Monrovia (626) 256-8000 – Contact – court officer Ortiz
- Monterey Park (626)573-1311
- Pasadena (626 )744-4501, (626) 744-4616
- Redondo Beach (310) 379-2477
- San Fernando (818 ) 898-1267
- Torrance (310) 328-3455
Orange County:
- Anaheim Police Department (714) 765-1523
- La Habra Police Department (562) 905-9758
- Newport Beach Police Department (949) 644-3672
- Seal Beach City Jail (562) 799-4100 Ext. 1117
Luxury Incarceration - Beverly Hills (women’s and men’s areas)
Treat yourself to your own food preferences (pre-packaged or ordered) and snacks, bring your own bedding, your own clothes and have a private marble walled cell. Common area includes a refrigerator, kitchen area, microwave, and coffee-maker, TV, and limited view of the Rexford Drive city hall complex. After TB Test and signing off on many waivers regarding medical issues, pay to stay rate is about $115 per night and a trustee program is available.
Know Your Options
This shouldn’t encourage anyone prone to bad behavior to cities with nice jails because in every case, there’s a small cramped holding area with bars and cots that those facilities use for current arrests. Arrested parties on hold for arraignment or processing are usually transferred within 24 hours to the large main jail facilities near the county seat.
Pay to stay options or work furlough options exist and while they are not widely availed as the best solution or mediation for punishment, but the people making those decisions aren’t in jail. Once you are tried and sentenced, you need to inquire about the options for your case if you feel you are qualified, but know that any violent crimes or charges faced (served) in your history may disqualify you as well as certain medical conditions.
Qualified offenders must submit an application to the jail and supporting court status of the case. There is a non-refundable fee for processing the request that may vary from $50-150, as discussed in the detailed descriptions of programs, some make the first two days a higher rate and provide a lower price for the remainder of the sentence. These options, however, offer options for working people to continue their careers or operate relatively normally without being imprisoned in a negative environment.
If you are arrested in Beverly Hills or Los Angeles County, you will never see their marble walled cells with private bunk, sink, and toilet, or their great common rooms with microwave and refrigerator. But if you plead or are found guilty through the courts, you have to be willing to pay to stay to enjoy any of the upgraded options.
