California sues L.A. County over ‘inhumane’ jail circumstances

By Cayla Mihalovich, CalMatters

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Citing “inhumane conditions” and a “shocking rate of deaths,” Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday introduced that the state is suing Los Angeles County over circumstances in its jail system.

“We can’t wait any longer,” Bonta mentioned at a press convention. “We need comprehensive reform and we need it now.”

The lawsuit, filed on Monday, seeks to compel the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Correctional Health Services to implement widespread adjustments, together with to its well being care, circumstances of confinement and grievance procedures.

“Our lawsuit will be the driving impetus to make those changes reality,” mentioned Bonta. “Every person in custody deserves safety, health care, dignity.”

About 14,000 people on average are housed in L.A.’s jail every day. The state’s lawsuit mentioned they’ve been uncovered to rat infestations, spoiled meals and no clear water. 

Over the previous decade, almost 40% of deaths within the Los Angeles County jails had been brought on by preventable circumstances, the lawsuit mentioned. According to the lawsuit, three dozen custody deaths have already taken place in Los Angeles County jails this yr. 

Despite a long time of court docket monitoring over Los Angeles County jails, perilous circumstances and constitutional violations proceed to persist, the lawsuit said. Meanwhile, the county has spent tens of millions of {dollars} to defend and settle litigation concerning these violations. 

“Instead of addressing root causes or devoting resources to resolving acknowledged violations, Defendants have engaged in a longstanding pattern of resisting oversight and accountability,” the state lawyer normal’s workplace wrote within the criticism.

The Los Angeles system is the state’s largest, working eight jails all through the county. The county is one among a number of that has confronted scrutiny for poor circumstances and preventable deaths. The state final yr appointed an official charged with investigating jail deaths and Bonta’s workplace beforehand opened a civil rights inquiry targeted on the Riverside County jail. 

And, final yr, CalMatters reported that deaths in native jails elevated at the same time as their inhabitants declined due to adjustments to state sentencing legal guidelines. 

The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. This story will likely be up to date when the division responds.

Cayla Mihalovich is a California Local News fellow.

This article was initially printed on CalMatters and was republished underneath the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.