One Sector that Benefits from a Bad Economy: Jail Inmates

LaTi has the details:

Tough times prompt the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to free inmates who've served only a fraction of their sentences...

When times are flush, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has the money to keep jails open and staffed, and the vast majority of sentenced inmates serve most of their time behind bars.But when times get tough and tax revenues shrink, the department has repeatedly looked to its jail operations to make cuts, freeing thousands of inmates who've served only a fraction of their sentences.The length of jail stays has ebbed and flowed in tune with L.A. County's budget for more than two decades, leaving the county during financial crunches with some of the weakest jail sentences in the nation.Now the county is shifting back into those lean times. Faced with fresh budget woes, Sheriff Lee Baca announced this week that he has stepped up the early release of inmates, a move that could continue for weeks or months.