ACLU Lawsuit Charges LA County Sheriff Baca and Top Department Brass with Condoning Pattern of Savage Deputy-on-Inmate Violence
"Plaintiffs Alex Rosas and Jonathan Goodwin are inmates in the custody of Sheriff Leroy Baca in the Los Angeles County Jails. Rosas and Goodwin have been beaten and threatened with violence by deputies of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (the “Department” or “LASD”). Mr. Rosas and Mr. Goodwin have also witnessed deputies beating other inmates.
The abuse that Rosas and Goodwin suffered and witnessed is typical of the abuse inflicted by deputies on countless other inmates in the jails, and is part of a pattern and practice of deputy-on-inmate violence that has persisted for many years. In the last few years alone, there have been dozens of documented cases of extreme and unjustified violence by deputies against inmates. Defendants are aware of the culture of deputy violence that pervades the Jails but have failed to take reasonable measures to remedy the problem. Plaintiffs charge Sheriff Leroy Baca, Undersheriff Paul Tanaka, Assistant Sheriff Cecil Rhambo, and Chief of Custody Operations Department Dennis Burns with violations of Plaintiffs’ Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to reasonable protection from violence and excessive force. Plaintiffs bring this action on behalf of themselves and other current and future inmates in the Los Angeles County Jails, seeking injunctive and declaratory relief."
