Beverly Hills : INS to Rent City Jail Cells

What overnight accommodations are clean and well-lighted, located in the heart of Beverly Hills, and cost only $75 a night for a single?

Here’s a hint--there’s not much of a view. The joint in question is the Beverly Hills City Jail, which is soon to rent out its cells to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

According to Police Lt. Frank Salcido, the INS will use as many as 10 of the facility’s 22 individual cells as a home-away-from-home for foreign-born criminals on the last few days before their deportation.

The jail, which opened for business last year, overlooks pricey residential neighborhoods, but its second-floor windows have been covered with horizontal louvers to frustrate peeping perpetrators.

Salcido said the average occupancy of the jail is about eight local inmates a day. The INS has agreed to take its people elsewhere if the facility gets too crowded, he said.

In addition to the singles, the jail also has one four-bunk cell, one three-bunk cell and two temporary holding cells capable of accommodating a few inmates each.