Brutality and violence against inmates in Los Angeles jails is pervasive. Recent media reports and an ongoing investigation by the FBI reveal patterns of shocking violence by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department employees. Unprovoked attacks on inmates and visitors, sexual assaults, attacks on disabled inmates and racially motivated beatings are detailed in inmate complaints, eyewitness accounts, internal documents and the admissions of former deputies recently made public.
Deputies in LA jails routinely threaten, beat and kick prisoners, instigate violence, then cover up these acts. Attacking non-resisting prisoners with pepper spray and Tasers is commonplace. One inmate was sexually assaulted by other inmates with a broomstick, with the assistance of an LASD employee. Another was slammed into a wall so hard his prosthetic eye popped out. Language like “stop resisting” was often used in an attempt to blame the victims for the use of excessive force. Racial slurs were also common. The culture of violence is so widespread that many unprovoked attacks were carried out in front of civilian witnesses.
Who fills the jails?
Despite the recent shift toward housing state prisoners in local jails due to budget cuts, the majority of inmates are in jail serving short sentences. Many are being held for a short time awaiting trial and have not been convicted of any crime. As in all sectors of the capitalist judicial system, people of color and the poor are disproportionately represented. Poor and working people are treated with such little respect by this system that hundreds have been wrongfully detained because they were mistaken for criminals with similar names or had their identities stolen. Nearly 1,500 cases of wrongful incarceration occurred in LA jails over the last five years.
Lack of accountability
This brutality by LASD employees is reinforced by a code of silence and a lack of accountability within the system. Even in cases where deputies are disciplined for excessive use of force, the LASD has consistently failed to turn over evidence to the District Attorney’s office for prosecutors to determine whether criminal charges should be filed.
Despite numerous detailed reports by inmate victims and civilian witnesses, Sheriff Lee Baca and the LASD have repeatedly failed to respond. Baca initially defended the LASD against allegations of corruption and abuse, and resisted the FBI investigation. Although Baca claims to have had no knowledge of deputies’ abuses, internal records from 2009 show that top officials have long been aware of the use of excessive force and lack of accountability in LA jails.
The need for true reform
After increasing public pressure and calls for his resignation, Baca has now agreed that reform is needed. The LA County Board of Supervisors has formed a new civilian oversight committee to review the jails and make recommendations for improvements. This committee will be appointed by the board and supported by volunteer attorneys.
The Office of Independent Review is a committee of seven attorneys formed by the board in 2001 to oversee the LASD. The decline in conditions over the last 10 years, including abuses made public by the OIR itself, make it clear that such a committee has not been and will not be successful in achieving real reform in the LASD.
A civilian oversight committee that truly represents the people could provide real oversight and fight for true reform. Any committee that claims to provide oversight should be representative of the people who are incarcerated, not of the ruling class. The oversight board should not be appointed by and answer to the Board of Supervisors, but elected by the people whose communities are affected. It should not be composed solely of attorneys and lawmakers.
A committee of the people can best provide oversight to protect the interests of the incarcerated. The people demand the right to oversight—to receive and review complaints of violence, to recommend and implement reforms, to discipline and fire officers who abuse inmates, and to ensure the safety and dignity of our imprisoned brothers and sisters.
Working people fill the jails, and working people should reform them.
