Keep Bailing

The LA Times has reported that command staff within the LA County Jail system first raised alarms about inmate abuse to Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca almost two years ago.

The latest investigative article brings continued scrutiny to the nation’s largest jail system.  Reports of brutality against inmates, employee misconduct, and the use of unnecessary and excessive force by sheriffs and other jail personnel have mounted in recent weeks.

One of the reports found that deputies crafted narratives ‘dramatized to justify’ force. Reportedly, jailers delayed using weapons that could end fights, like pepper spray and stun guns, to ‘dispense appropriate jailhouse justice’.

Although supervisors had, at times, recommended Read more »

LOS ANGELES – Yesterday, at approximately 7:30am the 20-year-old inmate was reportedly found lying lifeless in his jail cell at the Men’s Central Jail in L.A, according to the Sheriff’s and Coroner’s officials.

His name has not yet been released to the public and the death of the inmate is now undergoing investigation. There is no information being released now according to why his death occurred or if there was any violence that contributed to his death. An autopsy is Read more »

To focus on communities rather than criminals, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck and Sheriff Lee Baca announced a database that shares files between the federal, state and local agencies. Included in the “Community Based Information System” is information about community demographics, school dynamics, crime, social service referrals and other relevant data for decision-making by law enforcement officers. 

The purpose, as stated by officials, is to get a better grasp on the socioeconomic dynamic that occurs in troubled communities, it is not a tool for tracking criminals and analyzing crimes.

According to Sheriff Baca, “This system has the capability Read more »

The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department re-captured a man who was taken in for burglary charges and consequently tried to escape the confines of an L.A. County Jail.

On Monday, Ryan Martinez of Palmdale had been arrested and taken into the Sheriff’s Station at the Santa Clarita Valley Jail for questioning due to a burglary charge. While Martinez was being held in an interview room within the jail, officials were waiting to perform further questioning until the victim could provide a clear identification of the suspect.

According to officials, they Read more »

The L.A. Sheriff’s deputy, responsible for the 2006 arrest of Mel Gibson for drunk driving, is suing his department in claims that he’s been ostracized and dismissed for promotions by the department since the arrest took place.

The lawsuit details repercussions for Deputy James Mee’s emotional distress, mental suffering as well as damages for the loss of income, medical bills, and benefits. Mee claims his superiors forced him to remove any reference to anti-semitic slurs by Mr. Gibson.  Furthermore, the racial comments and slurs appeared to have been leaked on a celebrity website.

Mee declares that Read more »

Los Angeles jail officials and staff are planning to test out a new form of technology produced by the military as a weapon at the LA County Castaic Jail. This innovative tool is an invisible beam of heat that will produce “intolerable heat” to those whom it is beamed on.

The heat-beam is officially known as an Assault Intervention Device developed by Raytheon Company. It is said to be harmless and the one inside the L.A. jail is scaled down considerably.

The device works by emitting a beam, focused on the wave of energy that is traveling at the speed of light to produce an intolerable heat sensation that advertently will cause those in it’s line of fire to move. Once the individual has moved away from the beam, all heat sensations cease to exist.

Jail officials and deputies have tested this device and it is all controlled by a single joystick. According to Sheriff Lee Baca, “We Read more »

Chief Neal Tyler of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department announced that 43 gang members had been arrested. Originally a Pasadena area gang, they had extended their operation into Antelope Valley, which is where the arrest occurred.

The resulting arrests took place due to a partnership operation involving several different police forces. In total, approximately 400 police officers helped to perform the arrests, which included the help from; Antelope Valley Crime Fighting Initiative, California State Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, Los Angeles County Probation Department, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department-Operation Safe Streets Bureau, United States Drug Enforcement Administration Mobile Enforcement Team, and United States Drug Enforcement Administration High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force.

Within 80 locations throughout Read more »

You can call it lack of judgement, or maybe even temporary insanity. But whichever way you think of it, you can never really grasp why a 2-year veteran Los Angeles Deputy would smuggle, get this — 161.5 grams of heroin, 51.5 grams of marijuana and 24.4 grams of methamphetamine into the North County Correctional Facility, Castaic jail, and think he’d get away with it.

Former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy, Peter Paul Felix, was arrested in October on the charges of attempting to smuggle the drugs into the Read more »

Law enforcement services provided by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department to the City of Compton has left Compton with a serious debt. They owe an astounding $5.7 million and another $100,000 for acquired late fees. City of Compton has a plan to cancel its formal agreement with the L.A. Sheriff’s Department and form its own Compton Police Department.

According to Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department, the City of Compton has disregarded all written and verbal requests for payment. However, officials for the City Read more »

The Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail’s metal detectors are putting people at risk.  This particular facility, the largest jail in the world housing approximately 4,000 inmates, has a total of seven scanners, and many of them are not working.  As scary as that sounds, the jail’s chief says that security has not been compromised by the frequent breaking down of metal detectors. 

Deputies are often confiscating weapons made by inmates from various scrap metals.  Sheriff’s Captain Daniel Cruz, who is responsible for overseeing the jail, stated that, “We’re stuck with old technology and stuff that breaks down regularly.”  Cruz also mentioned that out of seven metal detectors at the jail, only one is working properly at the moment.  

On Wednesday, the LA Times inquired about the non-working metal detectors and the Sheriff’s Department made a commitment to replace Read more »