Los Angeles County Jail

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who was widely criticized for attempting to release hotel heiress Paris Hilton early from jail, received more bad news Tuesday: His deputies don't think he's doing a very good job. In a telephone survey paid for by the deputies' union, 69% of the 601 deputies who responded said they disapproved of Baca's overall performance, and three-quarters said the 20,000-inmate jail system was poorly managed. The poll, conducted by Washington, D.C.

Pauline Weinstein Ledeen, who for decades visited Jewish inmates in jails and prisons, offering grandmotherly concern, wise advice and a connection to the Jewish community, has died. She was 97. Ledeen, whose work earned her the nickname "Bubbe Teresa," or Grandmother Teresa, died Nov. 27 at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena from congestive heart failure caused by pneumonia, said her great-nephew Larry Tashman.

There have been 20 confirmed cases of swine flu in the Los Angeles County Jail system, with most of the infected inmates housed at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, the Sheriff's Department reported Wednesday. Inmates diagnosed with the virus have been placed in isolation, with restricted visits, and will be tested and monitored for seven days, said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore. Two inmates have been taken to outside hospitals for treatment and were "doing OK." The first case was reported about two weeks ago at the downtown Twin Towers jail.

Long before Joshua Vick was charged Wednesday with the capital murders of his parents and former girlfriend, his rages, threats and assaults on those closest to him had landed him in Los Angeles County Superior Court at least four times. Vick, 23, was regularly ordered to stay away from his family, directed to perform community service and sent to anger management classes. Twice, he served short terms in the Los Angeles County jail system. The most recent was three days on a 60-day sentence.

Ventura County sheriff's officials said Friday they had arrested three men in connection with the burglary of a Moorpark computer equipment company where $200,000 worth of hard drives had been stolen earlier this month. Foxtec Corp. had been burglarized March 1, authorities said. Less than a day later, a broker attempted to sell back to the company the same computer equipment that had been stolen, authorities said.

Weeks before Raul Tinajero, the state's star witness in a murder case, was strangled in the Los Angeles County Jail, he told his mother that he feared for his life. "Mom, I'm afraid," he told her tearfully in a phone call from the Men's Central Jail. "They are going to kill me, Mom, cause I went to court." Silvia Tinajero said she told him not to be scared, to trust in God and to always tell the truth.

A 19-year-old man at the Los Angeles County jail in Castaic was comatose and in grave condition Monday after being severely beaten by four fellow detainees, authorities said. Anthony Fernandez of Pico Rivera was kicked and punched in the head and upper body Saturday afternoon in a 98-inmate, dormitory-style jail room at Pitchess Detention Center, said Deputy Scott Butler, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The incident occurred four days after Dist. Atty.

Former racing promoter Michael Goodwin pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the 1988 murders of race-car legend Mickey Thompson and his wife. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Barbara Burke ordered Goodwin to return to the Pasadena courthouse Sept. 8 for a preliminary hearing. He is being held without bail at Los Angeles County Jail.

A federal appellate panel ruled Friday that three former inmates held in Los Angeles County Jail for as long as 29 1/2 hours beyond their ordered releases are entitled to their day in court. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a judge's dismissal of their claims and ordered that a jury be allowed to decide whether the constitutional rights of the former inmates were violated by their prolonged incarceration.