Carona Makeover
Another day, another jail beating in OC


by R. SCOTT MOXLEY





Joshua Dominic Wilson didn’t need a psychic to predict that moving to Orange County guaranteed pain. The 20-year-old quit a good-paying union job in northern California in August and, to pursue his dream of playing in the National Football League, joined the LA-based semi-pro team the Southern California Smash. Defensive backs—like the 5-foot, 11-inch, muscular Wilson—know all about dishing out and receiving trauma.

But Wilson, an upbeat Santa Clara native with a disarming smile and model-good looks, believed that all the violence he’d experience would be on a football field. Wilson didn’t realize that Orange County is home to another sort of contact sport: jail beating.

Unlike football, which has rules of conduct and penalties for cheaters, beatings in the jail are one-sided contests, where—thanks to the weak-kneed management of Sheriff Mike Carona—despicable acts routinely go unpunished. Beating prisoners doesn’t require any skill; any group of 9-year-olds armed with high-voltage taser guns and pepper spray can torture someone who is handcuffed and confined. The home team always wins.

Wilson learned this lesson on Sept. 24, after Huntington Beach police transported him to the OC Jail because he’d failed to resolve an old traffic ticket. He was stripping for a body search when he says an irritable deputy provoked an incident. The deputy told him to lift his arms up. He complied. “Higher,” the deputy ordered. Wilson became concerned. His arms were already as high as he could stretch them, a fact he says the deputy ignored. “Raise your arms,” the deputy yelled a third and fourth time. Wilson, who was wearing only pants, responded, “Fuck, they’re already raised as high as they can go.”

“Okay, that’s it,” the deputy told Wilson. “Put your hands behind your back.”

Wilson did what he was told. After he was handcuffed, a group of deputies pounced.

“They slammed me against a wall, and then one of them sprayed a can of pepper spray directly into both of my eyes—which were wide open because I had no idea what they were doing or why,” said Wilson. “I had done everything they told me to do. I wasn’t starting any problem. I’d done nothing wrong. I was cooperating to the fullest.”

After emptying the pepper spray can, deputies fired two taser darts into Wilson’s back. “They zapped me with the electricity for about a minute,” he said. “I felt my heart pumping and I couldn’t breathe. I was screaming in pain. Then they’d pause for a second and zap me again. I’d say they zapped me four or five different times. It just didn’t stop.”

According to Wilson, the deputies weren’t finished. Still handcuffed, outnumbered and unable to see because of the pepper spray, Wilson was then punched and kicked so severely they fractured his nose in three places, ripped his lip, busted his eye socket and ribs, pounded his jaw, cut his leg and bruised his shoulder. Blood poured. A huge knot swelled on his head.

Next, they hog-tied him, twisting his legs behind his back. The hold aggravated an old knee injury, and he pleaded, “Please stop! Please stop!” But the deputies only pushed harder, he recalls. “I was scared that they were going to break my knees,” he said. “That’s all that was on my mind—that my chance for a football career would be over.”

The 10-minute beating ended when a higher-ranking officer arrived and ordered his deputies to “calm down.” They tossed Wilson into a cell, brought a video camera and interrogated him. Apparently, the interview with the blood-soaked Wilson didn’t suit the sheriff’s department’s purposes. They removed the handcuffs and ordered him to wash the blood off his face, throat, head and shoulders. After telling him they were thinking about accusing him of assaulting them, deputies rerecorded the interview with a terrified Wilson.

“I’m guessing that we’ll never see that first tape,” said Chris Mears, Wilson’s attorney, who filed a claim against the sheriff’s department and the county on Oct. 5. “What those deputies did was so brutal, so unnecessary. They have to be held accountable.”

Eleven hours after the beating, Wilson was set for release. Before he left, an amused deputy walked over. “So you’re the ultimate fighting guy,” he wisecracked.

Once outside the jail, Wilson’s girlfriend started crying when she saw his pulverized face. She took him to the Hoag Hospital emergency room. Doctors asked, “What happened to you?”

* * *

If you’ve followed the OC Jail beatings saga, you know Wilson’s experience isn’t rare. The list of injuries inflicted by deputies in recent years is horrific: detached retinas, ruptured eardrums, shattered jaws, severed arteries, broken limbs—even crushed testicles. Deputies counter by claiming they fear attacks by inmates and use force only as a last resort.

But in August the Weekly exposed the brutal beating of San Clemente businessman Greg Hall, who was being processed in the jail after a minor traffic accident. Deputies punched, kicked and tortured Hall, who was handcuffed, hooded and left to sit in his own feces for 12 hours. He emerged from jail with a concussion, broken ribs, a gash in his leg, an eye contusion, broken veins in his feet, a shattered front tooth, lacerations and bruises over his body, contusions to his knee, neck pain, a fractured right wrist, and nerve damage to his left hand. In response, amused sheriff’s officials shrugged. One laughed.

It’s a situation screaming for immediate reform. Since rogue deputies apparently aren’t going to be fired or disciplined, here’s an idea: audio- and videotape the processing of everyone entering the jail. That would help settle allegations of abuse.

But even such modest reforms are unlikely. Carona, local judges, the grand jury and the county’s Board of Supervisors—which regularly pays out millions of taxpayer dollars to settle abuse cases—have proved to be co-conspirators. For example, the previous grand jury began investigating the jail last year but decided one subject was off-limits: jail beatings. In a May report that echoed deputy demands for more money and better offices, the grand jury hinted at its lack of concern about the violence. Deputies treated them with “respect and courtesy” when they visited the jail, they noted.

There’s hope, however. Carona—struggling through embarrassing revelations about his incompetence, connections to felons, fund-raising irregularities and a sordid mess involving an alleged series of extramarital affairs—might not be in office after next June’s election. The new grand jury could take its government watchdog role seriously. And thank God for the FBI: following the Weekly’s Aug. 12 “Justice Takes a Beating” cover story about abuses in the OC Jail, a federal agent met with Hall. Perhaps the agency will be interested in talking to Wilson too. He’s got a story to tell.

“I moved down here to start my career and hopefully get the attention of the NFL,” he said. “I didn’t come here to get beaten for no good reason.”


two things stand out about this article:

"Wilson learned this lesson on Sept. 24, after Huntington Beach police transported him to the OC Jail because he’d failed to resolve an old traffic ticket." Why not call a spade a spade?  He was arrested for a warrant, he was a fugtive who failed to appear in court. not "failed to resolve an old traffic ticket." Why the complete lack of personal responsibilty by the suspect.  He chose to break the law then chose to become a fugitive rather than appear in court of pay his fines. Have to give the author credit for finding the nicest possible way to say fugative.

"The deputy told him to lift his arms up. He complied. “Higher,” the deputy ordered. Wilson became concerned. His arms were already as high as he could stretch them, a fact he says the deputy ignored. “Raise your arms,” the deputy yelled a third and fourth time. Wilson, who was wearing only pants, responded, “Fuck, they’re already raised as high as they can go.” Profanity directed towards jail staff is a violation of most jail rules.  Cali law allows the use of force to maintian order and enforce jail rules inside corrections facilities.

Only 2 things in that story stand out to you?  For real?  You might want to read it again, if true there's a whole lot of other stuff that ought to stand out.  

Back story...

Justice Takes a Beating
OC court greenlights torture in local Jails


by R. SCOTT MOXLEY

Last month, on the other side of the planet from Abu Ghraib prison and 3,200 miles from Guantanamo Bay, right here in Orange County, five jail deputies handcuffed, hooded, beat and tortured a 38-year-old San Clemente businessman, according to a claim filed this week.

Still in pain three weeks after the July 17 incident, Greg W. Hall told OC Weekly about a Sunday evening that began auspiciously: enjoying a beer early in the afternoon and later several coffees, contemplating surfing and walking his dog at the beach. As Hall backed his SUV out of a parking space, his dog jumped in front of a side-view mirror and distracted him. He sideswiped another vehicle, causing minor damage. yeah officer, my dog distracted me. Unsafe load, obstructed veiw, unsafe backing, DUI/Drug...

When police arrived, they gave Hall a field-sobriety check and two Breathalyzer tests. Crime lab records show his blood alcohol level was 0.00. Nevertheless, deputies believed Hall acted oddly. Currently on probation for an illegal prescription case in 2003, Hall told the officer at the scene about the beer and admitted that he used Paxil, an antidepressant medication. Should not have been driving on Paxil. The deputy arrested him on suspicion of DUI and transported him to the Orange County Jail for a drug test. After a nurse took his blood, the arresting officer told Hall, “You’ll probably be out of here in about an hour,” and left.

But a 16-hour “hellish nightmare” awaited Hall, who attended Newport Harbor High School, graduated in 1991 from UC San Diego with a degree in economics, and says he has operated several small companies. Is that PC speak for unemployed surf bum?[i/] When he complained about the tightness of his handcuffs, five deputies swarmed him, yelled obscenities and attacked without legitimate provocation, Hall claims. Handcuffed and overwhelmed, his body was treated like a piñata.

According to documents filed Aug. 11 with county officials, the deputies dragged Hall down a corridor, shoved his face into a cell door frame, threw him to the floor, punched him, kicked his ribs, stomped on his back and legs, bent and twisted his arms and wrists, and repeatedly slammed his face into the concrete. Hall says one deputy tried to break his right foot with his bare hands. He remembers an unrelenting, “two- or three-minute attack” that ended only when a superior officer ordered the deputies to stop.

“I thought they were going to kill me,” said Hall, bandaged and wearing a wrist cast. “They had no right to torture me. I was in handcuffs. I was cooperating.”

At press time, the results of Hall’s drug test were not available. But medical records show that during his visit to the jail he suffered a concussion, broken ribs, a gash in his leg, an eye contusion, broken veins in his feet, a shattered front tooth, lacerations and bruises over his body, contusions to a knee, neck pain, a fractured right wrist and nerve damage to his left hand. The handcuffs were locked so tightly that the steel sliced his hands and caused dangerous swelling. An imprint of a deputy’s boot could be seen on the back of his leg for days.

The beating was so severe that Hall defecated in his pants. Deputies laughed and called him a “shit monkey.” When they returned to his cell later, they cursed at him again—and tied a black mesh hood over his head.

Christopher B. Mears—Hall’s attorney, a former Irvine city councilman and the current chairman of the California Athletic Commission—said deputies left his client in that condition—hooded, handcuffed behind his back, soiled in feces and bleeding—for the next 12 hours. Officers also allegedly denied Hall food and water or access to a phone to call his family. Just before his release, Hall—still handcuffed—watched a jail staffer stitch the gash in his leg without anesthesia. Dizzy, sore and nauseated, he limped out of the building wondering why.

“They literally—and I mean literally—beat the shit out of him,” said Mears. “Those deputies can’t get away with this type of savage behavior against a defenseless person who is in their custody.”

* * *


Jailhouse deputies have a difficult job. They are often the youngest, least experienced officers in the sheriff’s department, and their pay is as low as the potential daily risks are high. Although many of the citizens who pass through the jail system are not dangerous, these deputies regularly face society’s delinquents and psychopaths. Most perform their duties professionally.

But law enforcement sources, defense lawyers and former inmates tell the Weekly that a minority of officers in the Orange County Jail are, as a sheriff’s department official familiar with excessive force cases described them, “pure and simple thugs who don’t have the mental or emotional makeup to wear a badge.”

“Outsiders might think the department wouldn’t tolerate these bad apples,” said the official. “But they’re definitely there. They’re an embarrassment to the department. They’ve even had names, including ‘The Psycho Crew.’”

In 2003, my colleague Nick Schou reported the findings of Laguna Beach lawyer Richard P. Herman, a leading critic of jailhouse abuses. Herman claimed “inmates of the Orange County Jail awaken at night to the screams of other inmates being beaten.” Orange County Register investigative reporter Aldrin Brown had previously written a series of articles describing the horrific results of the beatings in local jails: detached retinas, ruptured eardrums, shattered jaws, severed arteries, broken limbs—even death from trauma.



Brown, now with a Tennessee newspaper, found evidence in 2000 that jail deputies entertained themselves by encouraging fights between inmates. In 2001, Brown and Register reporter John McDonald disclosed that four deputies had taken a 20-year-old inmate to an isolated area of the jail in December 1999 and crushed his testicles. Prosecutors agreed that the man had been tortured but said a code of silence among jail personnel prevented the filing of charges. Deputies claimed their Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination when they were brought before the grand jury.

Nobody had a better opportunity to demand reform than federal judge Gary L. Taylor. Prompted by Herman’s class-action lawsuit, Taylor conceded in April that “there is room for improvement” inside the jail but suggested the grievances aren’t serious. He killed the suit. “Improvement is always a necessary goal,” the judge said in a 14-page ruling. “The county and the sheriff show every indication they will perform that high duty.”

But Sheriff Mike Carona—who called Taylor’s ruling a “great victory”—has little incentive to clean up the county’s jail. He first won election in 1998 by telling voters that his leadership would produce a department that was a model of professionalism. Today, he thinks he’s succeeded. Through one of his spokesmen, the sheriff said he runs “one of the safest jails in America” and that “inmate welfare” is “very high on our list.”

In fact, politics tops the sheriff’s list. When they’re candid, Carona’s advisers admit the sheriff won’t end jail abuses for fear of alienating the deputies’ politically powerful union. With an election year approaching and challengers such as Bill Hunt and Ralph Martin already campaigning, it’s unlikely Carona—who is seeking his third term at the $500-million-a-year agency—will enact reforms any time soon.

That reality gives rogue deputies leeway to misbehave with little or no fear of punishment. Sources inside the jail say these officers often arrive at work looking for excuses to employ violence.

A few don’t wait. A law enforcement source described how some of these deputies provoke violence. In one example, he said, deputies would target an inmate at random, give him jail clothing that was either too small or too large and then wait for him to complain. “When the guy complains, the deputy’s hit the jackpot,” said the official. “He wallops the living hell out of him and reports that force was necessary to end a disruption. Officially, nobody will doubt the word of a deputy.”

* * *


On a quiet, tree-lined Santa Ana street about 10 blocks from the jail sits an anonymous, two-story building with a manicured lawn and lush landscaping. It looks more like a millionaire’s Cape Cod mansion than home to the region’s state Court of Appeal. Inside works David G. Sills, the presiding justice and onetime Irvine GOP politician, as well as seven associate justices appointed by governors. Overseeing the rulings of Orange County’s stable of Superior Court judges, the panel’s task is to ensure justice—even for the downtrodden.

But the Court of Appeal comprises well-connected individuals. And for those with further political ambitions, it’s unwise to take sides against law enforcement or to dig too deeply into local institutions like the jail. So it’s not surprising that Sills’ panel routinely ignores the screams of beaten suspects and inmates.

What’s alarming, however, is how far that panel will go to make life more miserable for inmates, many of whom are still—nominally, at least—innocent. Just before Hall’s alleged July 17 beating, the appeals panel gave tacit support for jailhouse torture. On June 29, Justices William Rylaarsdam, Richard D. Fybel and Eileen C. Moore overturned a jury’s decision to award $177,000 in damages to Robert N. Carter, an inmate who suffered numerous injuries while in custody for possession of drug paraphernalia. Forty years old and overweight, Carter claimed that deputies refused to give him medicine for a critical heart condition, kicked him in the groin repeatedly, pepper sprayed his face, beat his ribs, broke his jaw and hog-tied him. He said he was forced to use his cell’s toilet water to rinse the pepper spray from his eyes.

Deputies disputed the claims, testifying that Carter failed to comply with their commands, sought fights with officers and, on several occasions, asked to be pepper sprayed. Officers said they only reluctantly granted Carter’s wish. A jury declined to punish individual deputies but determined that Sheriff Carona and the county had violated Carter’s rights, permitted the use of excessive force and failed to adequately train or supervise jail deputies.

The appeals court slammed the jury’s decision. “At most, all these incidents show are that various employees committed misconduct,” according to Rylaarsdam, who then noted that the county and Carona should not be held legally liable. The justice said he accepted the deputies’ versions as truthful, questioned Carter’s injuries and stated that there is “no evidence of widespread abuses.” Reasoned Rylaarsdam: If there were no abuses in the jail, why would the sheriff be expected to order reforms?

But the most troubling ruling from the court came on June 8, when Justices Moore and Fybel joined William Bedsworth. The case was simple: Santa Ana police took Hong Cuc Truong, who’d been arrested for shoplifting in 2002, to the Orange County Jail. There, Truong—a Vietnamese immigrant diagnosed with schizophrenia—initially refused a deputy’s command to undress and take a shower before she was to be issued a jail jump suit. Truong began undressing about 10 minutes later, after another inmate convinced her it was safe to disrobe. As she pulled her sweater over her head, however, four deputies pounced, beating and kicking her and painfully twisting her arms behind her back. In the process, Truong suffered a severe arm fracture, according to records reviewed by the Weekly. Tossed in a cell, she said she was denied medical attention for hours.

The appeals court ruled there had been no excessive force. Never mind that the woman was in the process of complying when the attack occurred, wrote Justice Moore: “Truong’s refusal to obey the lawful order and the events that led to her injuries are part of an unbreakable chain of events.” It was “temporal hair-splitting” to consider that the woman had “changed her mind and started to remove her sweater.”

But lost in Moore’s justification was a missing explanation: Why did it take four trained deputies—using considerable violence—to handle Truong, who, at the time of the incident, was 54 years old, an inch over 5 feet tall and barely 100 pounds?

Quoted: ...if true...

I find it more likely the suspect knowing failed to appear in court, moved to another part of the state hoping to avoid arrest for his warrant, walked into jail with a chip on his shoulder, refused to lift his arms high enough to show there was not contraband secreted in his armpits, then was disrepectfull to the jail staff in violation of jail policy/rules.

in a jail with 5,000+ inmates i doubt the jailers picked this guy at random.

Quoted: Only 2 things in that story stand out to you?  For real?  You might want to read it again, if true there's a whole lot of other stuff that ought to stand out.

+1, someone out there keep us posted on how this plays out in court.

Geezus, another JBT vs. not-so-innocent victim thred.
My prediction for the outcome is Blue wall standing tall, cop-bashers screaming and yelling and the few minds that will be changed by this will go to the cop-bashing side.
*sigh*.....

I don't care how you try to justify it. The level of savagery depicted in these reports (if true) is completely uncalled for, unprofessional, and unacceptable.

Of course, the LEOs who participate in this topic will justify any and all actions because the suspect has no rights once they are picked up on a driving charge... making them a criminal.

Criminals have no rights.

Just drop a damned bomb on the jail.  It appears that everyone inside is scum.  It would make Darwin happy.  

Quoted: I don't care how you try to justify it. The level of savagery depicted in these reports (if true) is completely uncalled for, unprofessional, and unacceptable.

The how do you account for the OC jail system being the safest in the nation.  Even though the 5th largest in the nation it has the lowest rate of in-custody deaths, and has for decades. Maybe becuase the crooks who would make it usafe by continuining their lawless conduct on the inside are corrected immediately?

Quoted: in a jail with 5,000+ inmates i doubt the jailers picked this guy at random.

Here's why they picked the guy.  

Before he left, an amused deputy walked over. “So you’re the ultimate fighting guy,” he wisecracked.

They wanted to prove how "bad-ass" they were.  He was a semi-pro football player, and apparently they thought he was a martial artist as well.  I bet their dicks swelled to a whole 2 inches after the beating.  

Quoted: Quoted: I don't care how you try to justify it. The level of savagery depicted in these reports (if true) is completely uncalled for, unprofessional, and unacceptable. The how do you account for the OC jail system being the safest in the nation.  Even though the 5th largest in the nation it has the lowest rate of in-custody deaths, and has for decades. Maybe becuase the crooks who would make it usafe by continuining their lawless conduct on the inside are corrected immediately?

How's its rate for beatings?

Quoted: Quoted: I don't care how you try to justify it. The level of savagery depicted in these reports (if true) is completely uncalled for, unprofessional, and unacceptable. The how do you account for the OC jail system being the safest in the nation.  Even though the 5th largest in the nation it has the lowest rate of in-custody deaths, and has for decades. Maybe becuase the crooks who would make it usafe by continuining their lawless conduct on the inside are corrected immediately?

By OC'ing them, tasering them and beating the shit out of them?  Why not just shoot them in the fucking head if they give you any backtalk?  I mean, if you don't need to take any of their Constitutional rights as American citizens into account when you "correct" them for infractions, why not just go all the way?  

Quoted: Quoted: I don't care how you try to justify it. The level of savagery depicted in these reports (if true) is completely uncalled for, unprofessional, and unacceptable. The how do you account for the OC jail system being the safest in the nation.  Even though the 5th largest in the nation it has the lowest rate of in-custody deaths, and has for decades. Maybe becuase the crooks who would make it usafe by continuining their lawless conduct on the inside are corrected immediately?

An ad hominim argument at best. You cannot justify these officer's behavior with another unrelated, and unsupporting statistic.

How about those beatings?

Quoted: two things stand out about this article: "Wilson learned this lesson on Sept. 24, after Huntington Beach police transported him to the OC Jail because he’d failed to resolve an old traffic ticket." Why not call a spade a spade?  He was arrested for a warrant, he was a fugtive who failed to appear in court. not "failed to resolve an old traffic ticket." Why the complete lack of personal responsibilty by the suspect.  He chose to break the law then chose to become a fugitive rather than appear in court of pay his fines. Have to give the author credit for finding the nicest possible way to say fugative. "The deputy told him to lift his arms up. He complied. “Higher,” the deputy ordered. Wilson became concerned. His arms were already as high as he could stretch them, a fact he says the deputy ignored. “Raise your arms,” the deputy yelled a third and fourth time. Wilson, who was wearing only pants, responded, “Fuck, they’re already raised as high as they can go.” Profanity directed towards jail staff is a violation of most jail rules.  Cali law allows the use of force to maintian order and enforce jail rules inside corrections facilities.

You've got to be kidding me. You're telling me you actually BELIEVE saying fuck to a deputy warrants that kind of a beating? A multiple officer beating while the guy is handcuffed, AFTER the fact of the profanity?

And not showing up for a traffic ticket does not make you a "fugitive."

Nobody that wears a badge is above the law. If we allow that, we're no better than the federalies in Mexico.

Hopefully i never go to jail  

Well, when a black guy gets beat up in jail, he deserves, when a white guy gets beat up it's police brutality.

I'm sorry, but your reasoning as to why he deserved a beating is just ridiculous... There are many many people who have "warrants" because they have ignored traffic tickets, or their tickets were not delivered to them before their court date. Strangely, they haven't been thrown in jail and beat...

Time for you to go to your klan meeting, don't be late or your brothers will beat your ass. Did you even read the rest of the article, or did you only get your rocks off to the part where the black guy got beat up? Maybe you could try reading the rest of the article, where there are many more allegations of unneccesary abuse... I can't beleive these animals are Americans, it reads off like Bravo Two Zero...

In hoc.

Quoted: Hopefully i never go to jail

Me too.
They'd churn my ass like butter.

Quoted: Quoted: two things stand out about this article: "Wilson learned this lesson on Sept. 24, after Huntington Beach police transported him to the OC Jail because he’d failed to resolve an old traffic ticket." Why not call a spade a spade?  He was arrested for a warrant, he was a fugtive who failed to appear in court. not "failed to resolve an old traffic ticket." Why the complete lack of personal responsibilty by the suspect.  He chose to break the law then chose to become a fugitive rather than appear in court of pay his fines. Have to give the author credit for finding the nicest possible way to say fugative. "The deputy told him to lift his arms up. He complied. “Higher,” the deputy ordered. Wilson became concerned. His arms were already as high as he could stretch them, a fact he says the deputy ignored. “Raise your arms,” the deputy yelled a third and fourth time. Wilson, who was wearing only pants, responded, “Fuck, they’re already raised as high as they can go.” Profanity directed towards jail staff is a violation of most jail rules.  Cali law allows the use of force to maintian order and enforce jail rules inside corrections facilities. You've got to be kidding me. You're telling me you actually BELIEVE saying fuck to a deputy warrants that kind of a beating? A multiple officer beating while the guy is handcuffed, AFTER the fact of the profanity?

I have only booked several thousand people into county jails across the southwestern US.  That experiance leads me to believe the cuffs were removed some time prior to the suspect being told to take off his shirt and lift his arms (it's kinda hard to do that when handcuffed behind your back).

The laws that govern jail regulations in Cali allow the use of force to maintain order.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and goes unchallanged its the start of the break down of control.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and is immediately corrected the other 4,999 inmates know not to do that.

damn, I have family in huntington and visit on occasion. Better watch my mouth when I go there, don't want to get my ass beat for HOURS incase I happen to say "fuck" in front of a cop.

Quoted: I have only booked several thousand people into county jails across the southwestern US.  That experiance leads me to believe the cuffs were removed some time prior to the suspect being told to take off his shirt and lift his arms (it's kinda hard to do that when handcuffed behind your back). The laws that govern jail regulations in Cali allow the use of force to maintain order.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and goes unchallanged its the start of the break down of control.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and is immediately corrected the other 4,999 inmates know not to do that.

did you not read the article that you posted? It says he had his arms raised and they said higher, then he said "fuck, they're already raised as high as they can go." Then he was ordered to put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed, after he was handcuffed he was beaten. The story sure sounds possible to me

Quoted: If we allow that, we're no better than the federalies in Mexico.

Then you should move to Cali and lobby the legislature to ammend title 15 which regulates jail policy. Because current law allows jailer to use violence to correct what would be none criminal conduct on the outside.  In cali state prisons they shoot prisoners (usually with a Mini-14) for fighting in the yard. Do you think summary execution is okay for a misdemeanor assualt?  It's not on the outside but the rules are diffeent inside.

Quoted: I have only booked several thousand people into county jails across the southwestern US.  That experiance leads me to believe the cuffs were removed some time prior to the suspect being told to take off his shirt and lift his arms (it's kinda hard to do that when handcuffed behind your back). The laws that govern jail regulations in Cali allow the use of force to maintain order.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and goes unchallanged its the start of the break down of control.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and is immediately corrected the other 4,999 inmates know not to do that.

It appears that the officers in the OC jail use force much in the same, psychological fashion that a rapist uses it -- to feed the darkest part of their unfit psyche.

Quoted: damn, I have family in huntington and visit on occasion. Better watch my mouth...

HBPD has a reputation as a bunch of Nazis.  But you'll be fine as long as you fit in withnall the other cage fighters, skinheads, and strippers than flock to HB. Just dont drink in pubhlic there, HBPD has a zero tolerance for that one.

Quoted: Quoted: I have only booked several thousand people into county jails across the southwestern US.  That experiance leads me to believe the cuffs were removed some time prior to the suspect being told to take off his shirt and lift his arms (it's kinda hard to do that when handcuffed behind your back). The laws that govern jail regulations in Cali allow the use of force to maintain order.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and goes unchallanged its the start of the break down of control.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and is immediately corrected the other 4,999 inmates know not to do that. did you not read the article that you posted? It says he had his arms raised and they said higher, then he said "fuck, they're already raised as high as they can go." Then he was ordered to put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed, after he was handcuffed he was beaten. The story sure sounds possible to me

The article is also completely one sided and from a liberal "underground/street" newspaper. the story was never picked up by the mainstream media. Does that tell you anything?  Where is the interview with the jailers, the watch commander, the jail medical staff, the hospital ER staff?

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I have only booked several thousand people into county jails across the southwestern US.  That experiance leads me to believe the cuffs were removed some time prior to the suspect being told to take off his shirt and lift his arms (it's kinda hard to do that when handcuffed behind your back). The laws that govern jail regulations in Cali allow the use of force to maintain order.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and goes unchallanged its the start of the break down of control.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and is immediately corrected the other 4,999 inmates know not to do that. did you not read the article that you posted? It says he had his arms raised and they said higher, then he said "fuck, they're already raised as high as they can go." Then he was ordered to put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed, after he was handcuffed he was beaten. The story sure sounds possible to me The article is also completely one sided and from a liberal "underground/street" newspaper. the story was never picked up by the mainstream media. Does that tell you anything?  Where is the interview with the jailers, the watch commander, the jail medical staff, the hospital ER staff?

The county attorney told them to keep their mouths shut due to the forthcoming civil action?

Quoted: Quoted: ...if true... I find it more likely the suspect knowing failed to appear in court, moved to another part of the state hoping to avoid arrest for his warrant, walked into jail with a chip on his shoulder, refused to lift his arms high enough to show there was not contraband secreted in his armpits, then was disrepectfull to the jail staff in violation of jail policy/rules. in a jail with 5,000+ inmates i doubt the jailers picked this guy at random.

No it sounds like this is a pretty common occurence for them.

If true, this stinks.  Your defense of their actions speaks volumes about your personal character too.

None of your points are based on the fact that the story might be incomplete, instead they are lame excused justifying abuse.

Quoted: two things stand out about this article: "Wilson learned this lesson on Sept. 24, after Huntington Beach police transported him to the OC Jail because he’d failed to resolve an old traffic ticket." Why not call a spade a spade?  He was arrested for a warrant, he was a fugtive who failed to appear in court. not "failed to resolve an old traffic ticket." Why the complete lack of personal responsibilty by the suspect.  He chose to break the law then chose to become a fugitive rather than appear in court of pay his fines. Have to give the author credit for finding the nicest possible way to say fugative. Having a warrant out for your arrest does not justify this abuse.   Many people forget about tickets and parking violations.   This abuse wouldn't be justified if he had killed someone.   I was arrested due to a person with the same name jumping bail.   It was straightened out within 5 hours and the deputies were polite the entire time.    Of course, this is Texas and we try to weed out our sadistic pricks, not encourage them "The deputy told him to lift his arms up. He complied. “Higher,” the deputy ordered. Wilson became concerned. His arms were already as high as he could stretch them, a fact he says the deputy ignored. “Raise your arms,” the deputy yelled a third and fourth time. Wilson, who was wearing only pants, responded, “Fuck, they’re already raised as high as they can go.” Profanity directed towards jail staff is a violation of most jail rules.  Cali law allows the use of force to maintian order and enforce jail rules inside corrections facilities. Yes force is allowed, but unless things are vastly different in Kali, the force has to be the minimum amount necessary.   Cursing is against the rules, but it is hardly justification for the beating he recieved.  It also seems strange to cuff someone THEN beat them.  Is that how they do things in your department?

You could have argued the events didn't unfold the way described, instead you throw up BS justifications for clear abuse by the deputies.

Personally, I have my doubts thing went down as described.   I find it hard to believe they would be that stupid.   If it did happen, there is no excuse for it and no defense for the scum who did it.

If things went down as described those deputies need to spend some time in the penal system as guests.

Fuck them, and fuck anyone who wants to justify those actions.

You mean to tell me that a jail the size of Orange coutny's DOES NOT have cameras in every corner of their booking area?

Even little old Lansing, Michigan (Pop. 127,000) has that.

How would they defend themselves from such accusations without it. Even cop cars have cameras nowadays. If I were a judge presiding over a brutality lawsuit I'd have serious misgivings about the jail's truthfulness.

Cover your ass and take that big technological leap into the 60's and put some cameras in your jail!

Quoted: Quoted: I have only booked several thousand people into county jails across the southwestern US.  That experiance leads me to believe the cuffs were removed some time prior to the suspect being told to take off his shirt and lift his arms (it's kinda hard to do that when handcuffed behind your back). The laws that govern jail regulations in Cali allow the use of force to maintain order.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and goes unchallanged its the start of the break down of control.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and is immediately corrected the other 4,999 inmates know not to do that. It appears that the officers in the OC jail use force much in the same, psychological fashion that a rapist uses it -- to feed the darkest part of their unfit psyche.

The jailers in the OC jail system are sworn peace officers who have been through written and oral psych tests as well as background checks.  Nearly 50% are former Marines and at least 75% have bachelors degrees before getting hired.  After being hired they completed a 6-7month professional academy. What leads you to believe they have an "unit pysche," and "unfit" for what?

You seem to be basing your assessment on a completely one sided article published in a free street magazine with a liberal agenda.

Quoted: You mean to tell me that a jail the size of Orange coutny's DOES NOT have cameras in every corner of their booking area?

from what i have witnessed, if there is even a hint that a prisoner will be uncooperative a handheld videa camera and a Sgt follows the suspect through the booking process. That's probably why this incident never made the news, the jail likey has video of the prisoner refusing to follow the booking procedures.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I have only booked several thousand people into county jails across the southwestern US.  That experiance leads me to believe the cuffs were removed some time prior to the suspect being told to take off his shirt and lift his arms (it's kinda hard to do that when handcuffed behind your back). The laws that govern jail regulations in Cali allow the use of force to maintain order.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and goes unchallanged its the start of the break down of control.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and is immediately corrected the other 4,999 inmates know not to do that. It appears that the officers in the OC jail use force much in the same, psychological fashion that a rapist uses it -- to feed the darkest part of their unfit psyche. The jailers in the OC jail system are sworn peace officers who have been through written and oral psych tests as well as background checks.  Nearly 50% are former Marines and at least 750% have bachelors degrees before getting hired.  After being hired they completed a 6-7month professional academy. What leads you to believe they have an "unit pysche?" and "unfit" for what?

They beat the shit out of people for sport?

At least his dog made it home safe...

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I have only booked several thousand people into county jails across the southwestern US.  That experiance leads me to believe the cuffs were removed some time prior to the suspect being told to take off his shirt and lift his arms (it's kinda hard to do that when handcuffed behind your back). The laws that govern jail regulations in Cali allow the use of force to maintain order.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and goes unchallanged its the start of the break down of control.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and is immediately corrected the other 4,999 inmates know not to do that. It appears that the officers in the OC jail use force much in the same, psychological fashion that a rapist uses it -- to feed the darkest part of their unfit psyche. The jailers in the OC jail system are sworn peace officers who have been through written and oral psych tests as well as background checks.  Nearly 50% are former Marines and at least 750% have bachelors degrees before getting hired.  After being hired they completed a 6-7month professional academy. What leads you to believe they have an "unit pysche?" and "unfit" for what? They beat the shit out of people for sport?

Do you have any credible evidence of that? Their jail safety record would suggest otherwise.

AR15FAN, you have reached "the zenith of mongoloid reasoning".

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I have only booked several thousand people into county jails across the southwestern US.  That experiance leads me to believe the cuffs were removed some time prior to the suspect being told to take off his shirt and lift his arms (it's kinda hard to do that when handcuffed behind your back). The laws that govern jail regulations in Cali allow the use of force to maintain order.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and goes unchallanged its the start of the break down of control.  If one guy says "fuck" to a jailer and is immediately corrected the other 4,999 inmates know not to do that. It appears that the officers in the OC jail use force much in the same, psychological fashion that a rapist uses it -- to feed the darkest part of their unfit psyche. The jailers in the OC jail system are sworn peace officers who have been through written and oral psych tests as well as background checks.  Nearly 50% are former Marines and at least 750% have bachelors degrees before getting hired.  After being hired they completed a 6-7month professional academy. What leads you to believe they have an "unit pysche?" and "unfit" for what? They beat the shit out of people for sport? Do you have any credible evidence of that? Their jail safety record would suggest otherwise.

You used death in custody as the statistic to try and establish their safety record.

How many complaints of unnecessary beatings have been filed?

Quoted: Quoted: You mean to tell me that a jail the size of Orange coutny's DOES NOT have cameras in every corner of their booking area? from what i have witnessed, if there is even a hint that a prisoner will be uncooperative a handheld videa camera and a Sgt follows the suspect through the booking process. That's probably why this incident never made the news, the jail likey has video of the prisoner refusing to follow the booking procedures.

I'm talking about the kind of cameras that are mounted to the walls.
http://www.sign-maker.net/images/safety-sign-images/2951-cctv-24hrs.jpg
They make em' pretty small nowadays and they're not as expensive as they used to be so a jail can afford even more coverage. Hand held cameras would be totally unnecessary unless there was a desired psychological effect on their "guest".
http://www.cctvstuff.co.uk/hongkong/images/DCP01137.jpg

Seems like the problem isn't new, or unknown...

www.ocweekly.com/ink/02/22/a-coker.php

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 23 The family of William Richardson McCrea, who died in Orange County Jail after suffering a skull fracture, says the Laguna Niguel man did not fall, as jailers claim, but was beaten by a deputy. Now they’re suing the county. The fuzz say McCrea, 52, went limp during a lunchtime confrontation with an unidentified deputy and fell on his head. McCrea died on Feb. 9, 2001, in a hospital, and family members who had visited him there contend his wounds could not have come from a fall, describing his face as swollen beyond recognition. This is the latest in a string of brutality allegations against Orange County Jail that date back 20 years.


www.ocweekly.com/ink/05/49/cover-moxley.php

Justice Takes a Beating
OC court greenlights torture in local Jails
by R. SCOTT MOXLEY
Vol. 10 No. 49 August 12 - 18, 2005

Last month, on the other side of the planet from Abu Ghraib prison and 3,200 miles from Guantanamo Bay, right here in Orange County, five jail deputies handcuffed, hooded, beat and tortured a 38-year-old San Clemente businessman, according to a claim filed this week.

Still in pain three weeks after the July 17 incident, Greg W. Hall told OC Weekly about a Sunday evening that began auspiciously: enjoying a beer early in the afternoon and later several coffees, contemplating surfing and walking his dog at the beach. As Hall backed his SUV out of a parking space, his dog jumped in front of a side-view mirror and distracted him. He sideswiped another vehicle, causing minor damage.

When police arrived, they gave Hall a field-sobriety check and two Breathalyzer tests. Crime lab records show his blood alcohol level was 0.00. Nevertheless, deputies believed Hall acted oddly. Currently on probation for an illegal prescription case in 2003, Hall told the officer at the scene about the beer and admitted that he used Paxil, an antidepressant medication. The deputy arrested him on suspicion of DUI and transported him to the Orange County Jail for a drug test. After a nurse took his blood, the arresting officer told Hall, “You’ll probably be out of here in about an hour,” and left.

But a 16-hour “hellish nightmare” awaited Hall, who attended Newport Harbor High School, graduated in 1991 from UC San Diego with a degree in economics, and says he has operated several small companies. When he complained about the tightness of his handcuffs, five deputies swarmed him, yelled obscenities and attacked without legitimate provocation, Hall claims. Handcuffed and overwhelmed, his body was treated like a piñata.

According to documents filed Aug. 11 with county officials, the deputies dragged Hall down a corridor, shoved his face into a cell door frame, threw him to the floor, punched him, kicked his ribs, stomped on his back and legs, bent and twisted his arms and wrists, and repeatedly slammed his face into the concrete. Hall says one deputy tried to break his right foot with his bare hands. He remembers an unrelenting, “two- or three-minute attack” that ended only when a superior officer ordered the deputies to stop.

“I thought they were going to kill me,” said Hall, bandaged and wearing a wrist cast. “They had no right to torture me. I was in handcuffs. I was cooperating.”

At press time, the results of Hall’s drug test were not available. But medical records show that during his visit to the jail he suffered a concussion, broken ribs, a gash in his leg, an eye contusion, broken veins in his feet, a shattered front tooth, lacerations and bruises over his body, contusions to a knee, neck pain, a fractured right wrist and nerve damage to his left hand. The handcuffs were locked so tightly that the steel sliced his hands and caused dangerous swelling. An imprint of a deputy’s boot could be seen on the back of his leg for days.

The beating was so severe that Hall defecated in his pants. Deputies laughed and called him a “shit monkey.” When they returned to his cell later, they cursed at him again—and tied a black mesh hood over his head.

Christopher B. Mears—Hall’s attorney, a former Irvine city councilman and the current chairman of the California Athletic Commission—said deputies left his client in that condition—hooded, handcuffed behind his back, soiled in feces and bleeding—for the next 12 hours. Officers also allegedly denied Hall food and water or access to a phone to call his family. Just before his release, Hall—still handcuffed—watched a jail staffer stitch the gash in his leg without anesthesia. Dizzy, sore and nauseated, he limped out of the building wondering why.

“They literally—and I mean literally—beat the shit out of him,” said Mears. “Those deputies can’t get away with this type of savage behavior against a defenseless person who is in their custody.”

* * *

Jailhouse deputies have a difficult job. They are often the youngest, least experienced officers in the sheriff’s department, and their pay is as low as the potential daily risks are high. Although many of the citizens who pass through the jail system are not dangerous, these deputies regularly face society’s delinquents and psychopaths. Most perform their duties professionally.

But law enforcement sources, defense lawyers and former inmates tell the Weekly that a minority of officers in the Orange County Jail are, as a sheriff’s department official familiar with excessive force cases described them, “pure and simple thugs who don’t have the mental or emotional makeup to wear a badge.”

“Outsiders might think the department wouldn’t tolerate these bad apples,” said the official. “But they’re definitely there. They’re an embarrassment to the department. They’ve even had names, including ‘The Psycho Crew.’”

In 2003, my colleague Nick Schou reported the findings of Laguna Beach lawyer Richard P. Herman, a leading critic of jailhouse abuses. Herman claimed “inmates of the Orange County Jail awaken at night to the screams of other inmates being beaten.” Orange County Register investigative reporter Aldrin Brown had previously written a series of articles describing the horrific results of the beatings in local jails: detached retinas, ruptured eardrums, shattered jaws, severed arteries, broken limbs—even death from trauma.

Brown, now with a Tennessee newspaper, found evidence in 2000 that jail deputies entertained themselves by encouraging fights between inmates. In 2001, Brown and Register reporter John McDonald disclosed that four deputies had taken a 20-year-old inmate to an isolated area of the jail in December 1999 and crushed his testicles. Prosecutors agreed that the man had been tortured but said a code of silence among jail personnel prevented the filing of charges. Deputies claimed their Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination when they were brought before the grand jury.

Nobody had a better opportunity to demand reform than federal judge Gary L. Taylor. Prompted by Herman’s class-action lawsuit, Taylor conceded in April that “there is room for improvement” inside the jail but suggested the grievances aren’t serious. He killed the suit. “Improvement is always a necessary goal,” the judge said in a 14-page ruling. “The county and the sheriff show every indication they will perform that high duty.”

But Sheriff Mike Carona—who called Taylor’s ruling a “great victory”—has little incentive to clean up the county’s jail. He first won election in 1998 by telling voters that his leadership would produce a department that was a model of professionalism. Today, he thinks he’s succeeded. Through one of his spokesmen, the sheriff said he runs “one of the safest jails in America” and that “inmate welfare” is “very high on our list.”

In fact, politics tops the sheriff’s list. When they’re candid, Carona’s advisers admit the sheriff won’t end jail abuses for fear of alienating the deputies’ politically powerful union. With an election year approaching and challengers such as Bill Hunt and Ralph Martin already campaigning, it’s unlikely Carona—who is seeking his third term at the $500-million-a-year agency—will enact reforms any time soon.

That reality gives rogue deputies leeway to misbehave with little or no fear of punishment. Sources inside the jail say these officers often arrive at work looking for excuses to employ violence.

A few don’t wait. A law enforcement source described how some of these deputies provoke violence. In one example, he said, deputies would target an inmate at random, give him jail clothing that was either too small or too large and then wait for him to complain. “When the guy complains, the deputy’s hit the jackpot,” said the official. “He wallops the living hell out of him and reports that force was necessary to end a disruption. Officially, nobody will doubt the word of a deputy.”

* * *


On a quiet, tree-lined Santa Ana street about 10 blocks from the jail sits an anonymous, two-story building with a manicured lawn and lush landscaping. It looks more like a millionaire’s Cape Cod mansion than home to the region’s state Court of Appeal. Inside works David G. Sills, the presiding justice and onetime Irvine GOP politician, as well as seven associate justices appointed by governors. Overseeing the rulings of Orange County’s stable of Superior Court judges, the panel’s task is to ensure justice—even for the downtrodden.

But the Court of Appeal comprises well-connected individuals. And for those with further political ambitions, it’s unwise to take sides against law enforcement or to dig too deeply into local institutions like the jail. So it’s not surprising that Sills’ panel routinely ignores the screams of beaten suspects and inmates.

What’s alarming, however, is how far that panel will go to make life more miserable for inmates, many of whom are still—nominally, at least—innocent. Just before Hall’s alleged July 17 beating, the appeals panel gave tacit support for jailhouse torture. On June 29, Justices William Rylaarsdam, Richard D. Fybel and Eileen C. Moore overturned a jury’s decision to award $177,000 in damages to Robert N. Carter, an inmate who suffered numerous injuries while in custody for possession of drug paraphernalia. Forty years old and overweight, Carter claimed that deputies refused to give him medicine for a critical heart condition, kicked him in the groin repeatedly, pepper sprayed his face, beat his ribs, broke his jaw and hog-tied him. He said he was forced to use his cell’s toilet water to rinse the pepper spray from his eyes.

Deputies disputed the claims, testifying that Carter failed to comply with their commands, sought fights with officers and, on several occasions, asked to be pepper sprayed. Officers said they only reluctantly granted Carter’s wish. A jury declined to punish individual deputies but determined that Sheriff Carona and the county had violated Carter’s rights, permitted the use of excessive force and failed to adequately train or supervise jail deputies.

The appeals court slammed the jury’s decision. “At most, all these incidents show are that various employees committed misconduct,” according to Rylaarsdam, who then noted that the county and Carona should not be held legally liable. The justice said he accepted the deputies’ versions as truthful, questioned Carter’s injuries and stated that there is “no evidence of widespread abuses.” Reasoned Rylaarsdam: If there were no abuses in the jail, why would the sheriff be expected to order reforms?

But the most troubling ruling from the court came on June 8, when Justices Moore and Fybel joined William Bedsworth. The case was simple: Santa Ana police took Hong Cuc Truong, who’d been arrested for shoplifting in 2002, to the Orange County Jail. There, Truong—a Vietnamese immigrant diagnosed with schizophrenia—initially refused a deputy’s command to undress and take a shower before she was to be issued a jail jump suit. Truong began undressing about 10 minutes later, after another inmate convinced her it was safe to disrobe. As she pulled her sweater over her head, however, four deputies pounced, beating and kicking her and painfully twisting her arms behind her back. In the process, Truong suffered a severe arm fracture, according to records reviewed by the Weekly. Tossed in a cell, she said she was denied medical attention for hours.

The appeals court ruled there had been no excessive force. Never mind that the woman was in the process of complying when the attack occurred, wrote Justice Moore: “Truong’s refusal to obey the lawful order and the events that led to her injuries are part of an unbreakable chain of events.” It was “temporal hair-splitting” to consider that the woman had “changed her mind and started to remove her sweater.”

But lost in Moore’s justification was a missing explanation: Why did it take four trained deputies—using considerable violence—to handle Truong, who, at the time of the incident, was 54 years old, an inch over 5 feet tall and barely 100 pounds?


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www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Rotunda/4027/jail_beatings.htm
 
www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-abuse26sep26,1,7385999.story
 

2 Deputies Are Indicted in Jail Beating Cases
One is accused of two attacks at an L.A. facility and the other of trying to cover them up.
By David Rosenzweig and Matt Lait
Times Staff Writers

September 26, 2003

A federal grand jury has indicted two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies for allegedly beating two jail inmates and covering up the attacks, the U.S. attorney's office said Thursday.

Deputy Abel Jimenez, 31, and Senior Deputy Phalance Burkhalter, 37, were accused of conspiracy and witness tampering in a seven-count indictment returned Wednesday. Jimenez faces up to 45 years in a federal prison and Burkhalter 25 years, if convicted.

Jimenez, who is alleged to have committed the beatings at the sheriff's Inmate Reception Center near downtown Los Angeles, was also charged with depriving the inmates — under color of authority — of their rights.

Burkhalter, a 13-year veteran, and Jimenez, a deputy for the last six years, had been on paid administrative leave for the past year and a half while an internal criminal investigation was underway. A sheriff's spokesman said they were cut from the payroll when they were indicted.

Both deputies remain free pending arraignment sometime next month.

"We feel confident that after all the evidence is presented, Mr. Burkhalter will be acquitted of all the charges," Vicki Podberesky, one of his defense attorneys, said Thursday. Jimenez's lawyer, Ed Rucker, declined to comment, saying he had not yet seen the indictment.

According to the document, Jimenez attacked inmate Joe Mendez while on duty at the jail Nov. 28, 2001, throwing him to the floor and punching him repeatedly. Later that day, Burkhalter allegedly tried to persuade Mendez to say he had injured himself by falling out of bed.

On Dec. 31, 2001, inmate Juan Barragan was beaten up in another assault by Jimenez, the indictment states, but this one was said to have been witnessed by two other sheriff's deputies.

To cover up the incident, Jimenez prepared a fabricated incident report claiming that Barragan was injured during a fight with another prisoner, and Burkhalter tried to get the inmate to sign it, according to the indictment.

Burkhalter was also accused of ordering stains from Barragan's blood cleaned off the jailhouse floor and arranging for the disposal of his bloodied clothing.

Sheriff's officials launched an investigation that day after a County Jail nurse notified authorities that Barragan had said a deputy beat him.

"Investigators were sent out that night, and they discovered physical evidence in a cell area that was consistent with the inmate's version of events," said Sheriff's Chief William J. McSweeney, who oversees internal affairs. He declined to elaborate on the nature of the evidence.

During the investigation, officials also learned about the alleged assault on Mendez a month earlier.

"They went back and looked at that event and were able to connect the dots," McSweeney said.

When Jimenez learned that internal affairs investigators were looking into the episode, the indictment says, he telephoned the two deputies who witnessed the alleged attack and tried to get them to back up his story by lying.

During the department's investigation, other deputies who were on duty during the incidents were interviewed but said they did not witness any wrongdoing.  

"Once this matter resolves [in court] we will definitely look at the actions of other deputies to see if there were any other department policy violations," McSweeney said. "We do have ongoing concerns about that."

Though the allegations against the two deputies troubled department officials, they said they were pleased that the proper policies were in place to detect such problems.

"Every bit of this investigation was conducted by the Sheriff's Department," McSweeney said. "Ideally, we are the first to discover and confirm if our deputies are involved in misconduct."  

Steve Whitmore, a sheriff's spokesman, said that as the internal affairs inquiry progressed, the department asked the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office to join the investigation, resulting in Wednesday's indictment.

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Wednesday, March 12, 2003  
Suit alleges 'jailhouse justice'  
Attorney for O.C. ex-inmate who says he was beaten releases a surveillance tape.  
By ALDRIN BROWN  
The Orange County Register  

The soundless surveillance tape shows Orange County jail inmate Ryan Gene Epperson walking from a cell with his hands in his pockets, then standing, face-first, against a nearby wall.  

Moments later, an Orange County sheriff's deputy appears to kick away Epperson's left leg and delivers a closed- fist punch to the small of the inmate's back.  

The officers then take Epperson into a cell, out of the camera's view, where the inmate claims he was severely beaten by several deputies.  

Footage from the March 14, 2002, jail scuffle was made public by attorney John R. Cogorno Tuesday to illustrate what he claims was an unwarranted beating by sheriff's deputies angry over Epperson's demands that they put toilet paper in his cell. The tape was aired by several television stations Tuesday.  

"It was jailhouse justice," Westminster attorney John R. Cogorno said. "I think the public needs to see this tape."  

Two deputies involved in the case have been cleared of criminal wrongdoing, but an internal sheriff's investigation is ongoing into whether the officers violated department policy. The officers have remained on the job throughout the investigation, sheriff's officials said.  

"What the public is seeing in this video is only a small part of the information that is being presented in the case that is being litigated in court," said Jon Fleischman, spokesman for Sheriff Michael S. Carona. "The full story is going to be told, but it needs to be told in a court of law, not in the newspaper."  

Another inmate, German Torres, claims he was beaten by the same deputies moments later after he slapped at a cell window and called for officers to halt the first attack.  

Both men filed separate federal lawsuits in recent days accusing the county and the Sheriff's Department of violating their civil rights.  

In court papers, attorneys for the men allege that the beatings were committed by a rogue group of sheriff's deputies who call themselves "Untouchables."  

Two days before the alleged beating, Epperson, 27, had won a rare jury acquittal on a first-degree murder charge. Cogorno suggested the not-guilty verdict might have been a factor in the deputies' alleged animosity toward his client.  

Attorney Kent Henderson, who is representing Torres, said he has been trying to obtain similar surveillance footage involving the altercation with his client. County officials have thus far refused to release that videotape or turn over photographs taken of alleged injuries to Torres.  

"I want to see what is reflected as far as (Torres') injuries," Henderson said Tuesday.  

Hearing dates for the lawsuits have not been scheduled.  

A spokeswoman for District Attorney Tony Rackauckas would not comment on their decision to clear the officers of criminal wrongdoing. They also would not discuss whether the deputies gave statements to criminal investigators or invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.  

An FBI probe is ongoing.  

John Thurman, a retired Los Angeles County sheriff's captain who now works as a jail-operations expert, warned against reading too much into the brief tape.  

"At no time do I see the deputies using any unnecessary force," he said, explaining that without the audio, it's impossible to determine what exactly happened. "People often see what they want to see."  
 

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CONTACT US: (714)796-6741 or  [email protected]



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Tuesday, March 11, 2003  

Former inmates allege beatings  
Two men who say they were attacked by deputies at the Men's Central Jail in Santa Ana file separate lawsuits.  
By ALDRIN BROWN and JOHN McDONALD  
The Orange County Register  

A brutal gang of sheriff's deputies who call themselves "Untouchables" are responsible for the alleged beatings of two Orange County jail inmates last year, according to separate lawsuits filed Monday and last week.  

Former jail inmates Ryan Gene Epperson, 27, and German Torres, 31, suffered cuts, bruises and broken bones in the March 14, 2002, attacks outside of a holding cell at the Men's Central Jail in Santa Ana, the lawsuits state.  

Both men, who say they did not know each other before the assaults, echo each other's stories that Epperson was beaten after demanding that deputies put toilet paper in a cell occupied by several men.  

They say Torres was beaten after he slapped at the cell window and called for the deputies to halt their attack of Epperson.  

"They (deputies) beat the tar out of him, and they had no reason to do it," said attorney Kent Henderson, representing Torres in the civil case against the county and the Sheriff's Department.  

Sheriff's officials said Monday that they are conducting an internal investigation of the case but that county prosecutors informed them in December that criminal charges would not be filed against the deputies.  

Epperson's attorney, John R. Cogorno, said a videotape of the attack against his client clearly shows the deputies acted in a criminal manner.  

"The videotape of the incident is a shockingly flagrant violation of Mr. Epperson's civil rights," he said.  

FBI investigators also are reviewing the case to determine whether the inmates' civil rights were violated. Cogorno said his client has not been contacted by the FBI in the year since the probe began.  

A sheriff's spokesman would not say whether the deputies involved in the incident are back on the job.  
 

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CONTACT US: (714)796-6741 or [email protected]



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DANA PARSONS
 

Good-Guy Sheriff Can Also End Jail Abuse
Dana Parsons

November 26, 2003

A federal appeals court last week rousted old Orange County ghosts. In ruling that a former jail inmate's lawsuit alleging abuse shouldn't have been dismissed, the court once again summoned phantoms that have been howling for years around the Central Men's Jail.

The thing is, we have a resident ghostbuster.

Who ya gonna call? How about Sheriff Mike Carona?

If anyone could end the perennial complaints about abuse by guards, it would be Carona. About as popular as a public official can be, Carona has built goodwill all along the political spectrum and is welcomed in both the California statehouse and the White House. He's received overwhelmingly good press in his five years in office and has captured double-barreled praise for being a good administrator and a good guy.

That puts a politician in position to do almost anything he wants.

So, am I predicting that Carona will tackle the jail issue?

Not on your life.

For the record, Carona obviously wouldn't concede there's an ongoing problem of abuse. I tried to reach Carona's spokesman Tuesday for an updated assessment but didn't hear from him.

Jail issues are no doubt more complicated than the complaints I've gotten from inmates over the years would suggest. It's just that they never seem to end.

Some become public: In addition to the case sent back last week by the federal appeals court, there's the $650,000 settlement paid in 2002 to another inmate. And the $95,000 paid to a former inmate in 2000. And the class-action lawsuit pending against the department, alleging various civil rights violations at the jail.

Richard Herman, the longtime Orange County attorney who filed the class-action suit and who has been involved in jail-related cases for more than 30 years, isn't holding his breath waiting for Carona to act.

That's probably wise. Sheriffs lobbying for inmates' rights are probably about as common as Boys' Night Out at the jail.

"There's just no legitimate reason for the abuse of inmates," Herman says. Carona "has decided not to take the steps necessary to clean up the jail. I don't know how or why he came to that decision. He certainly had the opportunity to clean up the jail, but he chose not to."

Herman says that guards physically abuse inmates every day, basing that view largely on conversations with inmates after their release. "Not a day goes by that a guard doesn't lay hands on an inmate," Herman says, noting, however, that the complaints are confined almost entirely to the Central Men's Jail and not even fairly large branch facilities like the Musick or Lacy jails.

That's because, Herman says, the central jail is the first point of contact. The mentality, he says, is that inmates need to be clued in quickly to "how the world works, and how it works is violence."

No one is saying being a jail guard is pleasant duty. But everyone from Carona on down also knows how to do the job better. "They have the skills," Herman says.

The jail problems long predate Carona. It's just that he offers so much promise as a leader and has the cachet to do what he wants.

The mark of leadership is doing the unpopular but right thing.

Mentioned as a potential candidate for bigger things, Carona has said he won't run for reelection in 2006. In short, time is tight.

"Yes, it would be a great feather in his cap to clean up the jail and not make it the embarrassment it has been," Herman says. "I'm afraid this sheriff's legacy will not include cleaning up the jail, as I had hoped it would. Instead, it will be a black mark on his record."

*

Dana Parsons' column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. He can be reached at (714) 966-7821, at

[email protected]  or at The Times' Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.

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seems to me that if the cops were in the right, they would be clamoring for videocameras in every aspect of their police station.

TXL

If it's that common, where are the reprisals? I can't imagine your average gang banger would tolerate the insult to one of this own. How many of the guards are killed going to or from work or even in their homes? Why aren't the grossly outnumbered guards jumped by 50 other inmates when they're beating someone?

I have to say that I would not be inclined to let it go. If beaten in their jail I would know the truth regardless their denials, and should other avenues for justice lead to a dead end that guard would eventually end up in my crosshairs (literally). I live a good life, but it's so easy to go to jail over little stuff like a neglected traffic ticket that almost anyone could end up victimized, assuming these claims were true.

Permanent, full-time CCTV cameras don't lie. They could save the lives of jail officials and prisoners alike, as well as save the county countless millions in settlement dollars, assuming they have nothing to hide.

Without video it's all one person's word against another's which means thetruth is not likely to be revealed.

I know three guys serving Federal Prison time for "Allegedly" beating an Inmate to death

Two of the officers indeed had a physical confrontation with the Inmate
Five days later the Inmate Died

What transpired during those days in between ?

Let's see, he was beaten up by other Inmates and told Correction Staff " I slipped in the shower"
Subsequently transported to the neighboring hospital where he had seizures and fell out of bed numerous times
End Result: He died from a ruptured spleen ( He was in very poor physical condition due to Heroin use over many years )

Feds picked up the case and there ain't no beating the Feds

The Feds don't care about the Truth
All they want is convictions

Quoted: seems to me that if the cops were in the right, they would be clamoring for videocameras in every aspect of their police station. TXL

There was an interesting case up here a few years back. Seems the chief of police wanted to put monitoring cameras in the jail house. Not where the inmates were but rather in the hallways etc. I do remember one was to be put where it was monitoring one of the bulletin boards, just an ordinary bulletin board with things like union notices, birth announcements, whatever w2as posted. Well the employees (read as the working cops) didn't like the idea of being monitored and with the help of their union fought it and had the cameras removed (funny thing is can be monitored at work and I can't do a thing about it, same with just about everybody else here as long as they are at work)
I guess what I am trying to say here is the cops are not too fond of being watched regardless of what some might say.

Quoted: Quoted: seems to me that if the cops were in the right, they would be clamoring for videocameras in every aspect of their police station. TXL There was an interesting case up here a few years back. Seems the chief of police wanted to put monitoring cameras in the jail house. Not where the inmates were but rather in the hallways etc. I do remember one was to be put where it was monitoring one of the bulletin boards, just an ordinary bulletin board with things like union notices, birth announcements, whatever w2as posted. Well the employees (read as the working cops) didn't like the idea of being monitored and with the help of their union fought it and had the cameras removed (funny thing is can be monitored at work and I can't do a thing about it, same with just about everybody else here as long as they are at work) I guess what I am trying to say here is the cops are not too fond of being watched regardless of what some might say.

Bingo.

We had the same thing in our local municipality with regard to cruiser cams.

The dissenting votes on city council were led by the deputy county sheriff who was also a council member, and... the local FOP president.

His claim was.... we should trust our officers enough to not have to have cameras installed in their cruisers.

This story is chocked full of BS.  I don't buy a word of it.

Quoted: This story is chocked full of BS.  I don't buy a word of it.

So spend some time doing some Google searching on the history of abuse in the OC jail system.

Funny just how many articles you'll find. How come the other counties in CA don't have such a bad rep? How come NY doesn't have such a rep?

He's a minority with model-like good looks. It's obvious that this was racially motivated, and the LEOs in this case are JBTs.

The color of his skin is enough evidence, so what's the argument here.
Yea, even I can't say it enough to believe such bullshit.

 There should be a video camera in very room of a jail. This would provide a fair playing field.

  Looks like there is also a history of prisoner abuse in O.C.

Quoted: "Wilson did what he was told. After he was handcuffed, a group of deputies pounced." Riiiiiight....

+1

The article is so lopsided that it is impossible to make a comment.  It reminds me of an anti-gun article but just replace the guns with correctional officers.

Quoted: Some of the members here need a vacation there.........

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: You seem to be basing your assessment on a completely one sided article published in a free street magazine with a liberal agenda.

So you deliberately posted a questionable article to bait people and stir up shit? What's that practice called again? I expected better...