Sheriff Lee Baca

Los Angeles County sheriff's officials have launched an investigation into the performance of a captain who until recently supervised the troubled Men's Central Jail, a source confirmed Wednesday. The probe into Capt. Daniel Cruz represents the first significant action against a high-ranking sheriff's official since public scrutiny of the department's jails intensified in recent weeks. In an interview Wednesday, Sheriff Lee Baca declined to detail why Cruz was put on leave.

Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday pointedly questioned Sheriff Lee Baca's attempts to reform the county's troubled jails. Baca has been under criticism for his oversight of the nation's largest jail system following weeks of reports in The Times and other organizations outlining accusations of corruption and inmate abuse. The FBI is investigating accusations of jailer misconduct, and Baca has admitted he did a poor job of monitoring the situation. County supervisors approved an outside oversight committee last month and ordered Baca to give them periodic updates.

No one disputes that Los Angeles County's jails are in need of a serious overhaul — not even Sheriff Lee Baca, who runs them and who recently told The Times that he deserved to have his "butt whipped" for allowing the violence in the jails to fester. Now, two plans have emerged to address the problems. They are to be voted on by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. One, backed by Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Zev Yaroslavsky, calls for creating a commission to investigate deputy abuse and issue a corrective plan.

A former sheriff's deputy at the center of an FBI probe inside the L.A. County jail system implicated himself and other jail employees in four cases of improper force against inmates, according to a letter written by Sheriff Lee Baca. Baca said the admission prompted him to create a 35-person task force of seasoned investigators and other experts to examine a growing number of allegations of deputy misconduct in the jails. The former deputy, Gilbert Michel, alleged criminal misconduct by other deputies, and investigators could forward their findings to the district attorney's office for possible prosecution, a sheriff's official said.

Last week, I added my name to a letter to Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. asking for a federal investigation into disturbing reports of assaults on inmates by L.A. County sheriff's deputies in jails. I have no idea what a neutral and objective investigation will reveal, but for the sake of the public, the Sheriff's Department and Sheriff Lee Baca himself, a thorough investigation is crucial. Managing a large network of custodial facilities like L.A. County's jail system is a gargantuan task, and it is complicated by the fact that many inmates have not only committed crimes but also have serious drug, alcohol and/or mental health issues.

Oil and money Re "Proposed oil pipeline draws deep divisions," Oct. 3 Your Oct. 3 front page had an image of someone holding a sign touting jobs from the Keystone XL pipeline. Look at all the jobs the Fukushima nuclear power plant created! A Keystone pipeline in Nebraska leaked 21,000 gallons as recently as May. The tar sand oil the pipeline would carry would be shipped to an international terminal in Texas; most of this would not be oil for America. Those who think this carbon bomb has positive value for our country are very confused.

Sheriff Lee Baca said he would welcome a comprehensive federal civil rights investigation into the Los Angeles County jail system, a significant reversal after a week of harshly criticizing FBI inquiries into allegations of deputy misconduct. Last week, Baca denounced the FBI's investigations of his jails, which included smuggling a cellphone to an inmate — a move he said was possibly illegal. He questioned whether the agency was competent to determine wrongdoing. But as criticism mounted Friday over his oversight of the jails, Baca struck a much more conciliatory tone and acknowledged that there were problems in the jails.

More than 100 prisoners, many shaved and tattooed, crowded into the hard pews of the Men's Central Jail chapel and craned their necks to get a good look at "The Man. " Sheriff Lee Baca, the top authority figure in Los Angeles County's troubled jail system, had summoned them for a rare town-hall-style meeting Saturday morning. The reason for the gathering? Allegations of abusive behavior on the part of jail guards and the disclosure of a federal law enforcement probe into Baca's jails.

Thousands of felons who would be sentenced to state prison are about to be funneled into county jails — a money-saving measure for cash-starved California, and a headache for local law enforcement agencies. But not here in Los Angeles County, where Sheriff Lee Baca plans to greet arrivals with a menu of classes and counseling programs aimed at helping miscreants go straight. If I were one of those inmates, I'd rather take my chances at Folsom than serve a term at the county lockup, where deputies just might jump me on my way to citizenship class.

This week, The Times' Robert Faturechi reported that the FBI is investigating allegations of brutality and misconduct on the part of Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies in the jails. And a report released Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California provides sworn testimony about inmate beatings from three witnesses, including a chaplain who described watching deputies repeatedly kick an inmate who "lay limp and merely absorbed their blows. " The report comes eight months after an ACLU monitor assigned to the Twin Towers jail said she saw several deputies repeatedly Taser and beat an inmate as if he were a "human punching bag. " The allegations are piling up, yet Sheriff Lee Baca and his top aides continue to insist that everything's under control and that the department can police itself, thank you very much.