Astonishment at inmate behavior is shocking
In reviewing the killing of an Orange County inmate, it seemed to come as a surprise to the district attorney that prisoners are sometimes the ones in control.
Of the many immortal lines in "Casablanca," one of the best is when the local French gendarme says in mock alarm to the cafe owner: "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here."
Watching Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas on Monday morning, I had a "Casablanca" moment. Rackauckas isn't even close to being the bad guy in this scenario, but it would have been more reassuring if he hadn't seemed so wide-eyed at discovering that awful things go on in the county jails.
The three-term D.A. was at the microphone to discuss his office's report on the grand jury investigation into the October 2006 death of John Chamberlain at the Theo Lacy detention facility. Two days after his jailing on charges of possessing child pornography, Chamberlain, 41, was sodomized, kicked and beaten to death by "waves" of inmates, Rackauckas said. Nine inmates have been charged with murder, but the grand jury didn't return criminal charges against any of the deputies on duty, whose conduct Rackauckas found "shocking and unacceptable."
As a citizen and district attorney, Rackauckas said, "I absolutely can't tell you how distressed I am at some of the evidence we uncovered." Not only were some deputies lazy and derelict on the job, but they allowed inmates to sometimes discipline other prisoners.
He was further disappointed, he said, that higher-ups in the Sheriff's Department decided to investigate Chamberlain's death in-house, rather than follow the normal protocol and call in the D.A.'s investigators.
And as for the assault that Chamberlain sustained, Rackauckas said, "It is not acceptable for a civilized society to allow inmates to run the jail. The only punishment anyone deserves, even if the crime is unsavory and despicable, is the one handed down by our justice system."
Let's hope this wasn't the D.A.'s first clue that inmates "run" lots of jails and prisons and that higher-ups are fond of protecting their own fannies.
For the record: Rackauckas deserves a deep bow for calling the special grand jury in May 2007 to look into Chamberlain's death. Yes, it's what he's supposed to do, but it has at least resulted in publicizing a lot of ugly truths the Sheriff's Department didn't want out there but which citizens deserve to know. If nothing else, give Rackauckas credit for highlighting a term sure to enter the Orange County lexicon: "shot-callers," whom he defined as the inmates designated to enforce jailhouse discipline.
