Disturbed by reports of deputies beating inmates at county jails, the Board of Supervisors urged Sheriff Lee Baca on Tuesday to install surveillance cameras and implement other reforms that had been proposed years ago but never implemented.
It also voted to create a five-member Citizens Commission to review alleged abuse and recommend changes.
"I think it's fair to say accountability at the Sheriff's Department is long overdue," said Supervisor Gloria Molina, who listed a dozen changes she wanted to the sheriff to consider making in county jails.
"The very credibility of the Sheriff's Department is at stake."
The board's recommendations included installing surveillance cameras at the Men's Central Jail and Twin Towers within 30 days; forbidding deputies to strike inmates on the head unless lethal force is warranted; and requiring medical personnel in county jails to report suspicious injuries sustained by inmates.
It also called for assigning deputies to different floors every six months, to prevent them from forming what the American Civil Liberties Union has called "gangs" inside the jails.
There was also a suggestion to have random and targeted sting operations at the jails to identify dirty deputies; and to complete the most severe investigations within 30 days.
Molina said Baca should weigh each of the proposals over the next two weeks, and select which ones to implement.
"I don't know enough about
law enforcement to know which reforms would be effective," she said. "The sheriff should make decisions on which reforms to move forward."
Baca could not be reached for comment but Assistant Sheriff Cecil Rhambo said he supports many of the board's recommendations.
"Baca's position is: Anything that's going to make the department better, make the public trust us more, then he doesn't have a problem with that," Rhambo said.
"I don't think you're going to find a sheriff who is more compassionate about the plight of the inmate, as well as the deputies who work custody," he added.
The ACLU, which has been monitoring the county jails since 1985, last month presented a report with 70 sworn statements from purported eyewitnesses to beatings, mostly at the Men's Central and Twin Towers jails in downtown Los Angeles in 2010 and 2011.
Changing jail culture
ACLU legal counsel Peter Eliasberg supported the proposed reforms but said more should be done to change the culture in the jails.
"As much as we support Supervisor Molina's motion, we need to do more than make those changes," he said. "We need to figure out why deputies believe they can engage in this kind of activity and get away with it."
Many of the reforms were first proposed by the board's special counsel, Merrick Bobb, and the Office of Independent Review, headed by Michael Gennaco, over a year ago.
"I find all of them to be well-grounded, consistent with progressive police practices, and will help ensure that inmates are kept safe and secure in the jails, and not subjected to excessive force unnecessarily," Gennaco said.
Rhambo conceded the idea of surveillance cameras may have been brought up as far back as 2008.
"One of the things that held us back wasn't necessarily a resistance to install cameras," he said. "It was the fact that we were looking to tear down Men's Central Jail at some point, and we thought, 'If we're going to rebuild the house, then why put in a new lawn. Let's wait until we do the whole thing."'
Two of the proposed reforms drew opposition from the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs.
"We concur that something needs to be done, but we believe it's more of a training issue," said the union's president, Floyd Hayhurst.
ALADS opposed replacing deputies' heavy flashlights with batons, and the frequent rotation of assignments.
Protecting deputies
The union's vice president, Mark Divis, questioned why the recommendations did not include protections for deputies.
"These inmates should also be held accountable for their violent attacks on our staff within the jails," he said. "There's nothing in this motion that details accountability of inmates who make false allegations."
The board also approved creating a Citizens Commission that would "conduct a review of the nature, depth and cause of the problem of inappropriate deputy use of force in the jails, and recommend corrective action as necessary."
Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who co-authored the motion with Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, dismissed the ACLU's suggestion that the Citizens Commission was mere political cover for the board.
"I don't think it's for cover," Yaroslavsky said. "I think Baca needs help, and he recognizes he needs help, and I think we (the board) need help."
"We need to have a group of respected and knowledgeable citizens take a look at this with the intent not only of giving us a roadmap, but restoring public confidence in this jail system of ours," he added.
Copyright 2011 - Daily News, Los Angeles
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
