In the winter of 1940, when the jail was a single building with less than 2,000 inmates, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department pulled out all the stops.
The Salvation Army led the praise songs under the direction of the prison chaplain. Not content with just one musical option, sheriff’s officials also allow choral groups and a five-piece band.
For dinner, the jail served a holiday feast full of candy, salad, fruit, mashed potatoes and gravy, gelatin — or “gelatin,” as the Times put it — and even roast beef with sage dressing.
Although the prison population is now much larger, with more than 12,000 people incarcerated, this year’s festivities were less elaborate: baked chicken instead of roast veal, with a guitarist and singer providing music.
About 200 men, some from the neighboring Twin Towers facility, crowded into the chapel on the third floor of the Main Prison for this year’s Christmas Mass.
(Ringo Chiu / For The Times)
But the nearly 200 men gathered in the wooden booths of the Spartan chapel on the third floor of the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles were still full of smiles — and some tears — Wednesday as Archbishop José Gomez of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles celebrated. the annual Christmas Mass in the prison.
“It’s a special day,” said Jeff Nestler, crying after the service as he struggled to describe his second Christmas in prison.
Normally, the 68-year-old spent the holiday with his daughters and grandchildren. But as of April 2023, he was in the county jail awaiting trial on a murder charge he hoped would be dismissed.
Christmas in prison is “bad,” he said. But like everything else in life, he added, “it really is what you make of it.”
Jeff Nestler, left, was among inmates who rose to the occasion as they celebrated Christmas Mass at the prison on Wednesday.
(Ringo Chiu / For The Times)
After more than a decade working on Navy submarines, Nestler knows how to handle tough situations. Since arriving in prison, he has taken a dozen education classes and earned a high school diploma, despite already having a GED. Now, she hopes to become a teacher’s assistant.
“You find things to do to get by,” she said.
And at Christmas, that means showing Mass.
The archbishop’s Christmas Mass has been a fixture at the Men’s Prison since at least the early 1970s, when Peter Pitchess was sheriff and the closure of Bauchet Street was just a few years old. Five decades later, the facility is decaying and appears to be on the brink of closure – but the holiday tradition has continued.
For the first time, Gomez, who had just been installed as archbishop, presided over the service it was 2011, when Lee Baca was just beginning his fourth and final term as sheriff. Baca followers continued the tradition until the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted it in 2020. After the break, Gomez returned in 2022, again presided over an hour-long Mass before walking through the jail with Sheriff Robert Luna.
This year, Luna is sitting near the chapel with his wife and senior prison officials in uniform.
“We are here to give hope,” Luna explained afterwards. “He comes because he wants to send a message that everyone is important.”
Gomez, at the front of the chapel, has served at Christmas Mass since becoming archbishop in 2011, with a two-year hiatus during the COVID-19 shutdown.
(Ringo Chiu / For The Times)
After listening to Gomez’s sermon, the men – some from the People’s Prison and some from the Twin Towers Correctional Facility across the street – lined up for Holy Communion, then returned to their seats with smiles, others stopped to get the attention of their friends. other dormitories.
When the music changed to “Joy Around the World,” an old man began to sing softly, pretending to conduct the orchestra with one hand while the other sat in his wheelchair.
As the service drew to a close, soft chants melted into “Feliz Navidad” and the men rose, some singing with loud shouts while others clapped and hugged their neighbors.
Afterwards, they would go back to their dorms and houses to watch movies, play cards or organize prison parties, except for the official chicken dinner. Nestler said she planned to put in soup packets to bolster her dorm’s diet.
The “spread,” he said, will include jailhouse burritos, a variety of ramen noodle recipes and a questionable version of kimchi that relies heavily on commissary-bought pickles.
Prison officials even stepped in — albeit indirectly — by handing out care packages filled with basics including ramen, cookies filled with crème and instant coffee.
Aside from any gifts his staff can give to ease the pain of the prison holidays, Luna said, he has one wish for the men who came to Wednesday’s service: “I hope everyone in this room we will never see. next year.”
The prisoners received Holy Communion before the Mass and celebrated “Feliz Navidad.”
(Ringo Chiu / For The Times)
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