Central Jail

Two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies say the department hid an inmate working as a federal informant from the FBI, according to a lawsuit they filed this week. The allegations are the latest development in the ongoing question of whether top sheriff's officials obstructed an FBI investigation after learning that an inmate at Men's Central Jail was secretly collecting information on allegedly abusive and corrupt deputies. In the summer of 2011, sheriff's deputies discovered the inmate's cellphone with a history of calls to the FBI. In an unusual move, sheriff's officials responded by transferring the inmate, a convicted bank robber, to a different jail under aliases, including Robin Banks.

A former Los Angeles County sheriff's jailer was convicted Friday on charges related to taking a $700 bribe and smuggling cocaine behind bars, prosecutors said. Remington Orr, 25, pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe and possession of a controlled substance in jail, both felonies. He allegedly had two ounces of cocaine when he was arrested at Men's Central Jail in February 2012. According to the district attorney's office, he agreed to a sentence of 2 1/2 years. In a separate case, Orr, who resigned from the department, also pleaded guilty to permitting a loaded firearm in a vehicle and driving with a suspended license.

A 21-year-old inmate was stabbed to death and others were wounded Monday in a "major disturbance" involving up to 200 prisoners at Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, sheriff's deputies said. The fight broke out about 4:30 p.m. in a large holding cell and apparently was racially motivated, authorities said. The 21-year-old, who wasn't identified, died about four hours later at County-USC Medical Center.

Two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies say the department hid an inmate working as a federal informant from the FBI, according to a lawsuit they filed this week. The allegations are the latest development in the ongoing question of whether top sheriff's officials obstructed an FBI investigation after learning that an inmate at Men's Central Jail was secretly collecting information on allegedly abusive and corrupt deputies. In the summer of 2011, sheriff's deputies discovered the inmate's cellphone with a history of calls to the FBI. In an unusual move, sheriff's officials responded by transferring the inmate, a convicted bank robber, to a different jail under aliases, including Robin Banks.

An inmate in the Los Angeles Men's Central Jail committed suicide Wednesday by hanging himself, Sheriff Sherman Block disclosed. The identity of the 50-year-old prisoner, charged with burglary, was not released pending notification of next of kin. Block said his body was found by other inmates in his four-person cell about 4:40 a.m.

Sheriff Sherman Block Thursday denied reports from some county health department physicians that an apparent cluster of a deadly bacterial infection had been found at the Los Angeles Central Jail. "A serious problem with infectious disease does not exist" at any of the county's jails, Block said. The sheriff acknowledged that 12 cases of meningococcal infections had been diagnosed among inmates in 1986 and that one inmate had died.

An inmate early Thursday hanged himself with shoelaces tied to the bars of his single-man cell in the Men's Central Jail, authorities said. The 29-year-old inmate, whose name was withheld until his relatives were notified, was found in his cell at 1:35 a.m. by deputies making security checks, Sheriff's Sgt. Bob Stoneman said. The man had tied the shoelaces to his neck and to bars on the door, Stoneman said. Deputies tried to revive him, but a doctor pronounced him dead at 1:50 a.m.

Chipping away at a security problem that plagues old jails, Orange County supervisors voted Tuesday to install a closed-circuit television surveillance system in the Central Men's Jail. "We would like to have video cameras everywhere in the jails system, but it's quite costly. So we add them as we can," said Assistant Sheriff Rocky Hewitt. "It's critical we have them in the Central Jail complex." About 50 cameras will be installed on the third and fourth floors, at a cost of $200,000.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced the start of an emergency hazardous waste cleanup operation at a defunct electroplating shop across the street from the Men's Central Jail in Los Angeles. In response to an EPA order, the Margaret F. Jones Trust and the Moeller Trust, owners of the property at 496 Bauchet St., agreed to undertake the cleanup, EPA officials said. The estimated cost is $440,000.

Barry King has an esoteric dilemma: What should he serve for lunch--chicken or spaghetti? If he serves chicken, his guests are going to need about 12 minutes to finish their meal. If he serves spaghetti, they'll finish more quickly, maybe in nine. Those are critical minutes because King has to multiply the difference by about 25,000--three meals a day for a captive audience of more than 8,000.

Federal prosecutors examining jail abuse and other problems in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are expected to interview Sheriff Lee Baca on Friday. Part of the inquiry centers on whether Sheriff's Department officials obstructed an FBI investigation by holding inmate Anthony Brown under aliases and moving him. In an interview this week with The Times' editorial board, Baca said he's been assured that he's not a target of the investigation. Federal officials have declined to discuss details of the case.

They called it Operation Pandora's Box. Los Angeles County sheriff's officials learned in the summer of 2011 that the FBI had enlisted an inmate in the Men's Central Jail to collect information on allegedly abusive and corrupt deputies. In an unusual move, sheriff's officials responded by moving the inmate, a convicted bank robber, to a different jail under fake names, including Robin Banks. They assigned at least 13 deputies to watch him around the clock, according to documents reviewed by The Times.

Last week, the Citizens' Commission on Jail Violence issued a report sharply critical of my department with regard to violence at the Los Angeles County Jail. But the report neglected to mention a number of important initiatives my management team and I have put into place since allegations of problems at the jails surfaced. These measures have resulted in a record low use of force in county jails in recent months. Here are just some of the initiatives investigators neglected to mention in their report to the jail commission on Friday.

The Los Angeles County sheriff's captain who ran the Men's Central Jail fostered a culture of brutality by protecting dishonest deputies and permitting his underlings to use excessive force on inmates, his former lieutenant alleged in testimony Friday. Capt. Daniel Cruz even joked at the department's annual Christmas party about hitting inmates, according to Michael Bornman, who is now a department captain. While toasting deputies at the party, Cruz allegedly asked a banquet hall-full of jailers: "What do I always tell you guys?"

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court refused Monday to shield Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca from being sued for racial gang violence in the jails he supervises. The justices without comment turned down an appeal from the county's lawyers, who argued that Baca could not be held personally liable for the stabbing of an inmate since he had no personal involvement in the incident. Instead, the court let stand a decision of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which said that Baca could be sued for "deliberate indifference" to the inmate's rights since he was aware of jailhouse violence and had failed to take action to stop it. Dion Starr said he was stabbed 23 times by Latino gang members at the Men's Central Jail in 2006.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said this week that he may shutter much, if not all, of Men's Central Jail. That's good news considering that just five months ago he and the county's chief executive suggested that the only way to close the decrepit downtown facility would be for the county to shell out $1.4 billion to build two new jails and refurbish a third. Baca says he owes his change of heart to a new report that concluded the county could shut down the jail, without constructing expensive new facilities or jeopardizing public safety, by using electronic monitoring to release some pretrial detainees who pose no risk to the community.

A racially motivated fight broke out Tuesday among 121 Latino and African American inmates at the Los Angeles County Men's Central Jail, but no one was seriously hurt, a sheriff's spokeswoman said. "At 4 p.m., [a group of inmates] was let out of their cells to go to dinner," said Deputy Benita Nichol. "The 121 inmates divided along racial lines and began fighting. "Deputies quelled the disturbance within three minutes using verbal commands" and pepper spray, she said. No deputies were injured.

Forty-five inmates were injured, five seriously enough to require hospitalization, in two fights that took place Wednesday between Latinos and African-Americans at the Los Angeles County Central Jail, a sheriff's spokeswoman said Thursday. In both cases, the altercations were broken up by a sheriff's emergency response team after 10 minutes. Similar racial fights have occurred this week at the sheriff's Mira Loma facility in Lancaster and at the Pitchess Honor Rancho in Castaic.

Facing an FBI investigation into brutality in his jails, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca publicly committed Tuesday to shuttering much of his most problematic lockup, Men's Central Jail, barring some unexpected hike in violent crime. In the past, Baca has tied the idea of shutting down the troubled downtown Los Angeles facility to the county agreeing to pay for an expensive new jail. The Times reported last month that Baca was now open to shutting down the old section of Men's Central Jail - the epicenter of violent clashes between deputies and inmates - even without that new jail.

Facing a federal investigation into allegations of brutality in his jails, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca is considering a bold proposal to shutter a portion of the department's most troubled lockup that has been plagued by inmate killings, excessive force by guards and poor supervision. The plan would shift about 1,800 inmates, including many of the county's most violent criminals, from the old section of Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, a sheriff's jail commander said.