Thousands of Los Angeles County prisoners are housed in Pitchess Detention center, 50 miles from the inner city neighborhoods where police make many arrests. The closest bus stop is a mile away from the jail, and visitors can either walk the last mile or get a ride from Mama Betty.
The journey, which can take hours, ends in a 30 minute visit with the person behind bars. "It's like the whole journey the whole process is longer than the visit itself," says 25-year-old Nancy Rivera, who has visited the jail countless times.
Reporter George Lavender finds out how this weekly journey to the jail has made a community out of the visitors, and an unlikely hero out of a woman named Mama Betty.
Photo: Betty Peters, known as Mama Betty, shuttles jail visitors along the last mile of the journey. (George Lavender)