Aug. 05--Capping years of scandal, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has agreed to federal oversight and to sweeping reforms aimed at ending deputy abuse of inmates as well as improving chronically poor treatment for mentally ill inmates.
The agreement announced Wednesday establishes an independent monitor who will make sure the reforms are carried out. Richard Drooyan, a former Los Angeles Police Commission president who served on a blue-ribbon commission that was highly critical of Sheriff's Department operations, was appointed to be the monitor.
The move comes after federal prosecutors won convictions against deputies accused of abusing inmates and obstructing federal investigators looking into jail violence.
In May, former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka, once the agency's second highest-ranking figure, and a now-retired captain, William "Tom" Carey, were charged with conspiracy and obstruction of justice. The men, who are suspected of concealing the whereabouts of an inmate who was working as an FBI informant, have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.
"This historic settlement represents a renewed commitment by the county and Sheriff [Jim] McDonnell to provide constitutionally adequate care for prisoners with serious mental illness," said Deputy Assistant Atty. Gen. Mark J. Kappelhoff in a statement. "The agreement also puts in place a structure that will help turn around a persistent culture in which the use of excessive force on prisoners was sometimes tolerated."
Saying the deal, in part, was "designed to prevent and respond more effectively to suicides and self-inflicted injuries," federal officials in a statement outlined new measures to address treatment of the mentally ill.
Sheriff's deputies who work in the jails, for example, will undergo "significant new training on crisis intervention and interacting with prisoners with mental illness," while supervision of mentally ill inmates will increase. The agreement also addressed longstanding problems with abuse of inmates by deputies, who frequently are accused of unjustified beatings and other uses of excessive force.
Under the terms of the deal, the Sheriff's Department agreed to make revisions to policies on using force -- changes that federal officials said "should significantly reduce the use of excessive force, with added protections for use of force against prisoners with mental illness."
Assistant Sheriff Terri McDonald, who runs the county jails, said the terms of the settlement cannot be completely fulfilled until the aging, dilapidated Men's Central Jail is replaced with a new facility focused on mental health and substance abuse treatment.
The Board of Supervisors has delayed a plan to build a new 4,860-bed jail until officials take another look at its size and determine whether more treatment programs outside the jail could reduce the need for beds.
Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who joined the board in December, said that the jail will be replaced and that the main issue is how many beds it will contain.
"I agree with Terri. You can't do all the things that are required in that broken-down facility," Kuehl said.
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On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which has been negotiating with federal officials, discussed the settlement in closed session but did not publicly announce a result.
Federal involvement in the L.A. County jails dates to 1997, when the U.S. Justice Department issued a set of recommendations for improving mental healthcare. Since 2002, the jails have operated under a memorandum of agreement after federal authorities determined that inmates' constitutional rights were being violated.
In a June 2014 report, the Department of Justice accused jail officials of doing little to address the problem even after suicides more than doubled, from four in 2012 to 10 the following year.
Jail cells were "dimly lit, vermin-infested, noisy, unsanitary, cramped and crowded," exacerbating prisoners' mental distress, federal officials said in the report.
Some inmates with long histories of mental illness were not assigned to mental health housing and later killed themselves, the report said. Safety checks were not conducted often enough, and one mentally ill inmate had not been checked on for hours when he hanged himself, the report said.
The report detailed a series of reforms that federal officials expected would become part of an eventual settlement agreement, including checking on inmates more frequently and conducting more effective searches for contraband items such as plastic bags that inmates could use to kill themselves.
Jail officials say they have already begun implementing many of the reforms. The supervisors have approved funding for hundreds of additional jail staffers.
The number of suicides went back down in 2014, to five.
The Sheriff's Department is also operating under a court-enforceable settlement with the federal government over its street patrol operations in the Antelope Valley, where deputies allegedly targeted blacks and Latinos for harsh treatment.
In the jails, a court-appointed panel is monitoring the use of force and overseeing a set of reforms as a result of a settlement with the ACLU, which sued on behalf of inmates who alleged they were brutally beaten by deputies.
Seven sheriff's officials have been convicted of obstructing a federal investigation into brutality against inmates. Paul Tanaka, the Sheriff's Department's former No. 2, has been charged in a related case, along with a retired captain.
Peter Eliasberg, legal director for the ACLU of Southern California, said in a written statement that the settlement will bring "much needed change" to the county jails.
"For far too long, the Sheriff's Department and the Department of Mental Health chose to ignore the horrific conditions that inmates with mental illness were forced to endure," Eliasberg said. For far too long, the County Board of Supervisors turned a blind eye to evidence of savage abuse by deputies and failure to provide even minimally adequate treatment to inmates with mental illness."
Eileen Decker, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said the settlement would "usher in a new era" for the L.A. County jails.
"This agreement will serve as a roadmap for restoring public trust and confidence in the county jail system and in the dedicated public servants who work there every day to provide essential services, and ensure both the safety of the prisoners and the staff who work there," Decker said at a news conference.
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UPDATE
2:40 p.m.: This story has been updated to include reaction to the settlement deal.
11:30 a.m. This story has been updated throughout with more details.
10:30 a.m.: This story has been updated with details from the settlement.
This story was originally published at 6:08 a.m.
