Capt. Benedict leaving Altadena

John S. Benedict will be leaving his post as Altadena’s sheriff station captain to assume command of the county’s troubled jails.

Benedict, who has been in Altadena about two years, told AltadenaPoint Tuesday that he didn’t have a date when he would transition to command the nation’s largest jail system. The county jails also house inmates for cities like Los Angeles, Long Beach, Glendale, and Burbank, which have their own police departments. The county jail system includes the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, Men’s Central Jail, and the North County Correctional Facility.

Benedict said he thinks he was tapped by Sheriff John L. Scott to oversee the county’s jail system because he developed a working relationship with the Department of Justice while working on jail issues in Lancaster.  The Department is currently involved in several investigations regarding conditions at the jails.

Benedict will oversee 1,000 employees who are responsible for incarcerating about 200,000 prisoners per year.

Benedict said that he would be sorry to leave Altadena, especially as so many of his initiatives are finally taking flight.  There will be a new patrol system starting June 1, and the station is getting ready to re-open its own jail, which has been closed since the 1980’s.   “I’d like to have been able to see those through to the end,” Benedict said.

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