Los Angeles County courts stymied by shortage of prisoner transport buses: officials 

EXCLUSIVE: A busing crisis is hampering Los Angeles courts after a powerful local agency slashed funding to the sheriff’s department in a long-simmering feud — an operational breakdown that is jeopardizing cases, officials told Fox News Digital.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which allocates money to maintain the department’s fleet of prison transport buses, have been publicly clashing since Villanueva took office. 

"The Board just really doesn’t care about public safety or the Constitutional rights of inmates," said Villanueva, who has accused the Board of waging a personal vendetta against him. "They don’t want me to succeed, and they don’t care who they hurt."

The collateral damage from the power struggle has had wide-ranging consequences.

Only 50% of the department’s fleet of prisoner transport buses are operational, causing significant courtroom delays and sometimes outright case dismissals, according to Villanueva and a prosecutor.

The five-member Board of Supervisors is the governing body of Los Angeles County. The members are elected to four-year terms and distribute funding to various departments — including the sheriff’s department.

Since Villanueva took office in December 2018, the Board has not purchased a single bus for prisoner transport, said the sheriff, whose department runs the county’s jails and provides deputies for courtroom security.

Prior to Villanueva’s term, the department typically bought five buses a year to replace those that had aged out.