Los Angeles County Men's Central Jail

Los Angeles County Men's Central Jail is the primary adult detention facility operated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, located in downtown Los Angeles adjacent to the Hall of Justice on Bauchet Street. With a capacity exceeding 5,000 and a daily population that frequently approaches that number, MCJ is one of the largest single-site county jails in the United States. The facility serves as a central booking and housing location for the LA County jail system, which also includes Twin Towers Correctional Facility, the Pitchess Detention Center complex in Castaic, and several other jails. Booking into the LA County system typically begins at MCJ before possible transfer to another facility.

Communication at Men's Central Jail and other LASD facilities is managed through GTL, which provides phone calls, video visitation, and electronic messaging services. Families create a GTL account at telmate.com to access all available services. For phone calls, a GTL prepaid account funded with your phone number allows you to receive inmate-initiated calls. Video visits can be scheduled remotely through GTL. Messaging via GTL delivers communications digitally within the facility. Money for commissary accounts can be deposited through GTL or AccessCorrections.

An important note for families of LA County inmates: after processing and classification, your loved one may be transferred from MCJ to another facility within the LASD system — Twin Towers, the Century Regional Detention Center, or one of the Pitchess facilities. The GTL account and setup remain the same across all LASD facilities, but confirming the current location is necessary when scheduling video visits or making facility-specific requests. If your loved one is sentenced to a California state prison rather than remaining at an LASD facility, communication will shift to JPay for messaging and GTL phone remains but under a different system contract.