This is a big question that I often see asked, and many of my clients have asked me this question. Obviously, nobody wants to go to jail. It's an unpleasant place. The conditions in the county jail are not good. It's overcrowded, and there are a lot of violent individuals in there, so it becomes a dangerous location as well.

When I'm asked about the percentage of time that you actually serve a criminal sentence in the Los Angeles County jail, it's not the easiest question to answer with exactness because the sheriffs have developed their formula based on the jail system's overcrowding. We're typically able to tell most people, as long as you didn't plead to a strike, that they're going to serve no more than 50% of their time. So, if you got a year in the county jail, you would expect to serve no more than six months. However, I've had many clients exit much earlier than the six-month mark. I've had clients get out in a couple of months. I've had clients get out in even less time than that on a year's sentence. So, that makes it a little more difficult to gauge. However, the good news is that for people who are going to have to serve county jail time, you will be serving a very small percentage of the time you're actually sentenced to.

Due to overcrowding, I'm now seeing that they're bringing people who would normally serve state prison sentences into the county jail to complete their sentences, as there's only a specific list of crimes for which one actually serves time in prison. That's causing more crowding in the county jail. The sheriffs have only a limited number of deputies and limited space to accommodate all these various inmates.

The very short answer to the question is that you can pretty much bank on doing a very small percentage of the time that you're actually sentenced to. Another interesting fact is that the shorter the time, the quicker you get out. In other words, for sentences of thirty or sixty days, people are out in a day or two. Sometimes, they release them from the courthouse. Again, the sheriffs are primarily basing their decision on overcrowding in the system. If they can't fit people into the inmate reception center, then they won't be able to bring them there, and they'll have to let them go.

The only angle I've seen that differs from where they will keep people longer is in relation to certain crimes. Domestic violence cases seem to be those types of cases where they have a 'tickler system' that they're going to keep those people a little bit longer. The 'tickler system' is a method used by the sheriffs to keep track of certain cases, particularly those involving domestic violence, and ensure that the individuals involved are not released prematurely. You would think they would keep sex crime defendants a little bit longer, and sometimes they do, but most of the time, if they're overcrowded, they just start letting everybody go.

So, suppose you have a case where you're facing jail time, or you're considering serving jail time instead of actually doing some sort of community service or something similar. In that case, you definitely want to sit down with an attorney who is familiar with the court system where your case is and who is familiar with the county jail system, so you can get a good feel for what you're facing time-wise and what your best options are under the circumstances surrounding your case. That's the best way to deal with any criminal issue, whether it be overcrowding in the jail or how much time you're going to serve on a particular sentence.

The bottom line is that your attorney is in the best position to guide you in making any decisions. A lot of people are concerned about the amount of time they're going to spend because they have jobs and various other family obligations that they have to deal with, so that makes it very difficult for them to decide to say, you know what, I'm not going to do that much of the time, so I can't take any time. Even if I might be released in a few days, I can't take the risk that the sheriffs keep me in there longer, as I'll lose my job, and various other bad things can happen. So, I obviously understand that, as a criminal defense attorney, I'm often able to tell prosecutors, 'Look, this person's not going to spend much time in jail. ' They're willing to do a bunch of Caltrans in order to resolve this case. They can't go to jail. They'll lose their job. They have too much at stake.

For example, in a domestic violence case, a good argument is that if you make this person go to jail, they're going to lose their job. They won't be able to support their family, and you're really punishing the victim in that regard. The prosecutors, who are responsible for bringing criminal charges against a defendant, understand this; whether they like it or not, often we can get no jail-time offers due to overcrowding in the county jail. They realize the person isn't going to spend that much time in prison, and it's not really a significant punishment if they get out in a day or two. So, it really just depends on the circumstances of your case on whether you're going to go to the county jail, whether you're going to do some Caltrans or community service, and the best person to talk to about that and strategize with is your criminal defense attorney.

I talk about these issues almost every day about how much time a person is going to do in custody, whether doing local county jail time is better than doing a bunch of Caltrans or community service or other work that the person might not do. The 'Caltrans' program, short for California Department of Transportation, is a community service program where individuals sentenced to perform community service work are assigned to various tasks such as graffiti removal, litter cleanup, and other public works projects. If you are ordered to do Caltrans, for example. If you don't do it and you mess around with it, the judge is just going to throw you in jail anyway, so you're going to end up with jail time anyway.

Therefore, it's crucial to strategize with your attorney and make informed decisions. This approach will help you navigate the criminal justice system and aim for a swift exit, providing reassurance in a challenging situation.