Photo Courtesy of ACLU

The beleaguered facility, which has been decried by numerous human rights organization, has been an ongoing embarrassment for Baca. In the past year, it was embroiled in a mounting series of scandals, including inmate abuse and a prison guard conspiracy that was uncovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Despite these highly publicized incidents and a near constant stream of criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union, Baca says that was not the reason for his announcement.

"Investigations and allegations are not bases for rational management decisions," Baca said in a conference outside the Sheriff's headquarters. "We're not talking here about all of a sudden we've been put in a corner."

Previously, Baca has said that he'd consider closing the facility if a long-promised new jail was opened. But movement has been slow with California weathering a budget crisis. This change of heart for the Sheriff came after after reading a report by the ACLU that said populations at Men's Central Jail could be reduced if some prisoners were released on parole and surveilled with electronic monitors.

The ACLU has publicly called the facility near Chinatown "the worst jail in the country" and its cramped quarters and aggressive deputies a "modern-day medieval dungeon."