LOS ANGELES—Sheriff Lee Baca's command staff raised concerns nearly two years ago about deputy misconduct and brutality against inmates at Los Angeles County jails, confidential memos show.
The internal Sheriff's Department documents detail cases in which deputies used unnecessary force, then escaped punishment because of shoddy investigations by supervisors, according to a Los Angeles Times report published Sunday (
http://lat.ms/vt9uq1).
One report outlines more than 100 violent encounters with inmates and found that jailers invented narratives "dramatized to justify" force. In some cases, deputies purposely delayed using weapons like pepper spray and stun guns that could end confrontations, "to dispense appropriate jailhouse 'justice,'" the report said.
Another document shows that serious injuries to inmates were not documented by deputies or medical staff.
Records also show that supervisors routinely failed to interview all witnesses recommend discipline and training for problem deputies. One report shows a case in which a supervisor recommended that four jailers undergo more training, but only two did.
The author of that report wrote such a lapse "could be quite damaging to the department and expose us to unnecessary liability."
Cmdr. James Hellmold, a member of a task force recently assigned to implement jail reforms, said the reports, dating back nearly two years, never reached Baca's desk. He described the memos as useful but faulted them for not accounting for the role he said inmates play in provoking the violence.
"The sheriff has acknowledged in part of his self-analysis that he needs to find out what the commanders have done, and what information they had at what time," Hellmold told the newspaper. "The question for the department is where we go from here to strengthen our jails."
Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore told the Times the memos prompted the department to provide additional use-of-force training to jail managers.
The department and its top official have come under criticism since the American Civil Liberties Union released a report last month alleging abuse by deputies. The FBI has demanded internal department documents detailing the use of force on inmates over several years, as well as other records. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has called for reforms and is setting up a commission to investigate the scope of the jails' problems.
Earlier this month, Baca said he is to blame for deputy misconduct and brutality against inmates in the nation's largest jail network. He acknowledged to the Times that he was out of touch about problems in the jails and failed to put into place important reforms that could have minimized violence.
