In California local jails have become more dangerous

In 2011 the California prison system introduced some reforms, one of which was the shifting of responsibility from state prisons to county lockups. Since then, the rate of inmate-on-inmate homicides has tripled or quadrupled, and statewide the number has risen 46%. 

But county jails are not equipped to handle those who have been in a state jail; they are designed to hold people no longer than a year. They don't expect inmates to suffer from serious mental illness or chronic medical conditions that those facilities have been unprepared to handle. The majority of people in county jails are accused of crimes, innocent under the law, whereas prisons only hold those who have been convicted of felonies. Jails mix both populations, and the result has been deadly.