Annual Report on Conditions Inside
Men’s Central Jail
2008-2009

ACLU National Prison Project
ACLU of Southern California
May 6, 2010

Principal Authors
Mary Tiedeman
ACLU of Southern California, Jails Project Coordinator
Daniel Ballon
Pro Bono Fellow, ACLU of Southern California

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

LIBERTY

I JUSTICE I EQUALITY

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION

CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................ 1
I.

METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................. 3

II.

VIOLENCE AND RETALIATION .................................................................................... 9

III.

A.

Deputy Abuse........................................................................................................ 10

B.

Retaliation ............................................................................................................. 13

C.

Failure to Protect the Safety and Well-Being of Prisoners ................................... 19

D.

Recommendations: Eradicating the Culture of Violence...................................... 21

MENTAL HEALTH CARE IN MEN‘S CENTRAL JAIL ............................................... 24
A.

Problems with Initial Mental Health Assessments and Access to Mental Health
Care at MCJ .......................................................................................................... 27

B.

Overcrowded and Noxious Conditions at MCJ Exacerbate Mental Illness and
Overwhelm the Facility‘s Very Limited Mental Health System .......................... 31

C.

Problems with Confidentiality of Care ................................................................. 34

D.

Improper Disciplinary Measures Used on Prisoners
with Mental Illness ................................................................................................ 35

E.
IV.

Recommendations ................................................................................................. 37

UNSAFE AND UNSANITARY FACILITIES AT MEN‘S CENTRAL JAIL................. 40
A.

Problems with Spatial Density .............................................................................. 40

B.

Poor Living Conditions at MCJ are Exacerbated by Overcrowding .................... 45
1.

Unsanitary Living Conditions ................................................................... 46
i

C.
V.

Plumbing Problems ................................................................................... 48

3.

Lack of Access to Showers ...................................................................... 49

4.

Linen Exchange ........................................................................................ 52

Recommendations ................................................................................................. 54

DISCIPLINE AT MEN‘S CENTRAL JAIL ..................................................................... 55
A.

B.

C.
VI.

2.

LASD Disciplinary Policy and Actual Practice .................................................... 55
1.

Disciplinary Policy.................................................................................... 55

2.

Defective Procedures ................................................................................ 55

Disciplinary Segregation ....................................................................................... 58
1.

Solitary Confinement ................................................................................ 58

2.

Mental Disability and Discipline .............................................................. 60

Recommendations ................................................................................................. 61

CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 63

ii

Acknowledgments
This report is a compilation of more than one year‘s worth of time, effort and dedication.
As such, we have many people to thank for their part in completing it.
First, we would like to thank the thousands of prisoners who contacted the ACLU Jails
Project to discuss their experiences at Men‘s Central Jail (MCJ). Their courage and willingness
to share their stories, despite often having fears of retribution, guides and inspires our ability to
advocate on their behalf. Likewise, we would like to thank the family members of prisoners, and
other prisoner advocates, who have contacted, and continue to contact, the ACLU regarding
problems at MCJ.
Second, we would like to thank the following individuals who contributed to this report
by volunteering their time drafting sections of the report, obtaining declarations from prisoners,
and assisting in monitoring conditions at MCJ: Alison Alliaga, Luke Bailey, Ronald Chatters III,
Brian Civale, Aviva Lichman, Elizabeth Mueller, Kevin Primo, Mariana Ramirez, Elizabeth
Steinfeld, and Julie Weiss. Their endless passion to protect and advocate for the rights of the
prisoners at MCJ invigorates the work of the Jails Project. We also extend our gratitude to Eric
Balaban, Melinda Bird, Peter Eliasberg, Gordon Smith, and Todd Weddle, for editing various
drafts of the report. This work would not have been possible without their time, commitment,
and effort.
Finally, we offer our thanks and appreciation to the Los Angeles Sheriff Department
(LASD) personnel who regularly assist us during our visits to Men‘s Central Jail. Their valuable
assistance in promptly responding to and addressing individual complaints regarding jail
conditions has led to many positive improvements in the operations of the jail. We would
especially like to thank the following LASD staff for their efforts to work collaboratively with us
to improve the conditions at MCJ: Commanders Stephen Johnson, David Fender, Dennis Conte,
and Robert Olmsted; MCJ Captain Daniel Cruz; Chiefs Dennis Burns and Alexander Yim; and
Barbara Svos. We would also like to thank individuals from the Department of Mental Health
for their assistance: Dr. Kathleen Daly, Dr. David Kidwell, Dr. Michael Maloney, Sharon
Chiappe, and Joseph Salinas.
We truly hope the information and recommendations provided in this report, as well as
the experiences of the prisoners at MCJ told herein, will lead to informed discussion and positive
solutions to the problems in MCJ.
-Daniel Ballon, Pro Bono Fellow and Mary Tiedeman, Jails Project Coordinator

iii

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
More than 30 years ago the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California sued
Los Angeles County and its Sheriff‘s Department for subjecting inmates in the Men‘s Central
Jail to cruel and unusual punishment. Today, many of the awful conditions targeted by the
original lawsuit persist, together with an apparent culture of violence and fear, including
prisoner-on-prisoner assaults and the use of excessive force by deputies. This violence, fueled in
significant part by the overarching problem of chronic overcrowding in the cell blocks of Men‘s
Central Jail, is one of the most compelling reasons why this aging, decrepit facility must have its
population drastically reduced, or be closed.
The ACLU/SC currently works in partnership with the ACLU National Prison Project in
Washington, D.C., as the court-appointed monitor for the Los Angeles County jails system – the
largest such system in the United States, housing nearly 20,000 detainees and costing nearly $1
billion a year to operate. ACLU monitors visit the jail weekly to observe conditions, talk to
prisoners and pursue complaints on their behalf. This report focuses on some of the major
problem areas identified by our jail monitors from 2008-09 at the Men‘s Central Jail in
particular, including the inadequate treatment of mentally ill detainees (who comprise a
disproportionately high percentage of the jail population); grossly unsanitary conditions; and the
disturbingly haphazard discipline meted out to those who violate jail rules.
Many of the most troubling complaints that the ACLU receives, however, involve
allegations of pervasive physical abuse and violence. In the 12-month period covered by this
report, we received scores of complaints about abuses ranging from direct assaults and deputyorchestrated attacks by other prisoners, to verbal abuse and threats of physical harm, including
threats for filing grievances. The stream of complaints alleging violence that we receive from
prisoners and family members, and the shocking results of violence that our monitors have
observed at Men‘s Central Jail -- from broken ribs and black eyes to severe head wounds that
need to be stapled together -- are strikingly consistent.
The widely reported violence at Men‘s Central is particularly disturbing because the vast
majority of people being held at the jail are simply awaiting trial. In other words, they are
presumed innocent and have yet to get their day in court. In addition, a high percentage of these
prisoners suffer from mental disabilities, and many are unable to control their own disturbed
behaviors. A national expert found that abuse of prisoners by deputies at Men‘s Central is not
only ―very likely‖ but is disproportionately directed against prisoners with serious mental illness.
The toxic living conditions at the jail further exacerbate mental illness among prisoners who
suffer from it, as does the county‘s failure to identify and provide treatment to mentally ill
prisoners housed there.
A key difficulty in assessing the true extent of violence in Men‘s Central Jail is the
sheriff‘s refusal to share information with the ACLU regarding, for example, the number of useof-force incidents it investigates, and the resolution of those investigations. This lack of
transparency raises questions about the adequacy and independence of the Sheriff‘s
Department‘s internal review process, and may even help encourage daily occurrences of
violence within the jail.

1

This report also documents a persistent pattern of prisoners claiming that they have been
retaliated against and/or harassed by jail staff for protesting the conditions of their confinement.
Retaliation – along with countless threats of retaliation that prisoners report to our jails monitors
– creates a chilling effect that deters prisoners from bringing forward grievances in the first
place, or to report their complaints anonymously, which, of course, renders them virtually
impossible to follow up. The issue of retaliation is therefore a serious one that strikes at the heart
of the ACLU‘s ability to effectively perform its court-approved duties as a monitor of the county
jail system.
Unsanitary and downright hazardous living conditions within the Men‘s Central Jail,
where prisoners are housed in windowless cells and dorms plagued by poor ventilation,
plumbing leakages and stoppages, and extreme temperatures, are also examined in this report.
Many detainees report that their shower times are frequently cut short or skipped altogether for
unspecified reasons. In addition, the space provided per prisoner in the jail falls shockingly short
of nationally recognized standards. Some dormitories contain more than 140 prisoners, with
tiered bunk beds that are jammed so closely together that it‘s almost impossible to move between
the rows of beds.
As the ACLU has been emphasizing for years, overcrowding is in fact a common theme
behind all major problems at Men‘s Central Jail, from the culture of violence to a lack of
transparency, and from poor screening and treatment for the mentally disabled to unsanitary
living conditions. Therefore, the ACLU urgently renews its call for the Sheriff‘s Department to
radically reduce the population of its jail system through proven, low-risk alternatives to
incarceration for pre-trial detainees, including electronic monitoring, supported housing and drug
and mental-health treatment programs. By cutting down the overall number of prisoners in the
nation‘s largest correctional system, the sheriff can ease overcrowding at Men‘s Central Jail or
close this aging, costly, toxic facility once and for all.

2

I.

METHODOLOGY

The ACLU Foundation of Southern California (―ACLU‖) has monitored the conditions in
the Los Angeles County Jails since 1985, pursuant to a series of court-approved agreements
between the ACLU and the Los Angeles Sheriff‘s Department (―LASD‖). Men‘s Central Jail
(―MCJ‖) is part of the Los Angeles County Jail System.
With nearly 20,000 detainees and an operating cost of more than $1 billion per year, the
Los Angeles County Jail System is the largest jail system in the United States and one of the
largest and costliest jails systems in the world. The Jail System is operated by the Los Angeles
County Sheriff‘s Department and is comprised of nine different facilities spread across the
County: the Inmate Reception Center; Men‘s Central Jail; Twin Towers (Tower 1 and Tower 2);
Century Regional Detention Facility; Mira Loma Detention Center; North County Correctional
Facility; and the Pitchess Detention Center (East, North, and South facilities).
After male detainees are arrested, they are brought to the Inmate Reception Center for
processing. There, each detainee undergoes an initial screening process with Sheriff‘s deputies to
determine whether the detainee has medical or mental health needs, or any other need that will
require special care while he or she remains in LASD custody. After the initial screening at the
Inmate Reception Center, detainees are sent to one of the other six jail facilities where they will
be held until they either make bail or their criminal case is resolved. Some of the jail facilities
have very specific functions. Century Regional Detention Facility processes and houses the
County‘s female prisoners. The Mira Loma Detention Center houses detainees who have
pending immigration cases. Twin Tower 1 holds prisoners whom jail staff have determined are
the most seriously mentally ill.

3

This report will focus on the conditions inside Men‘s Central Jail. MCJ is approximately
50 years old and had an average daily population in 2009 of 4,700-5,000 detainees, about 7080% of whom are awaiting trial—as opposed to serving time for a criminal conviction—or are
serving time for technical parole violations. It is the oldest and most decrepit of the jails in the
County, and a vastly disproportionate number of the complaints the ACLU receives come from
inmates at MCJ. The ACLU has been advocating for the closure of MCJ and/or for major reform
in the jail for years.
More than 30 years ago, the ACLU sued the County of Los Angeles and the County
Sheriff on behalf of the inmates in MCJ, challenging the conditions of their confinement as a
violation of the Eight Amendment‘s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.1 That case,
Rutherford v. Block, remains active today. After a victory in Rutherford and several court orders
ordering the County to bring the jail into compliance with basic constitutional minimums, several
improvements were made.
During the 1980s, however, the Los Angeles County Jail population nearly tripled from
8,000 to more than 23,000 detainees, and conditions at MCJ became more horrific than ever. In
1985, the LASD and the ACLU entered into a court-approved agreement acknowledging that the
dramatic increase in the jail population precluded the LASD from fully complying with the
orders in Rutherford. As an alternative to contempt proceedings, the ACLU and the LASD
agreed to work cooperatively towards developing a jail system that meets constitutional
minimums, including entering an agreement granting the ACLU the right to monitor the LASD‘s
compliance with the various Rutherford orders.
The agreement provides the ACLU with full access to all jail facilities to allow ACLU
advocates to speak with prisoners and document jail conditions through first-hand observations.
1

Rutherford v. Block, 457 F. Supp. 104 (C.D. Cal. 1978).
4

In carrying out its monitoring tasks, the ACLU‘s Jails Project processes individual prisoner
complaints, regularly visits the jail facilities, and meets regularly with the LASD and Los
Angeles County officials to discuss strategies for addressing systemic problems in the jail,
including MCJ. Through these monitoring efforts, over the last 25 years the Jails Project has
amassed thousands of records documenting the conditions inside the LA County Jails, including
declarations from prisoners, notes from observations made during jail tours, and complaints
received through the Jails Project intake system. This report is based on data from the last two
years, 2008 and 2009.2
The Jails Project processes approximately 4,500 complaints annually from county jail
prisoners, their families, and local advocates. Signs posted throughout common areas in the jails,
including the hallways and health care clinics, notify prisoners that they may direct complaints
about the conditions of confinement or access to medical services to the ACLU Jails Project.
Prisoners make complaints to the ACLU during face-to-face interviews, via voice-mail
messages, and by letter. The Jails Project then reports these complaints daily to LASD staff.
Common complaints received through this process include:

•

Denial of medication, medical and mental healthcare;3

2

Although the Jails Project has maintained data regarding the conditions in the jail for decades,
this report focuses on the conditions in the jail as reported by prisoners and as observed by the
jails monitors over the years 2008-2009 to reflect the most current conditions within the jails.
3
Medical complaints—complaints about denial of medication or access to medical care—
comprise a substantial portion of the complaints received by the Jails Project. As with the other
problems discussed in this report—complaints about access to mental health treatment, for
example—problems with access to medical care are exacerbated by overcrowding in the jail.
However, while it is important to understand the problems with access to medical care in the jail
and while a significant portion of the ACLU‘s work involves advocating on behalf of prisoners
who are not receiving adequate medical care, this report does not address the issue in depth as
the topic is outside the scope of this report which focuses on problems with access to mental
health care, the unsanitary conditions inside the jail, problems with violence and excessive
discipline inside the jail, and the way these various problems interact with and exacerbate each
other.
5

•
•
•
•
•

•

Denial of access to showers, clean clothing, telephones, and outdoor recreation;
Delayed mail
Broken toilets, infestation of vermin, and filthy, unsanitary conditions;
Excessive and punitive discipline, especially housing prisoners in small, dark,
solitary cells;
Classification problems
Violence and abuse from deputies and other prisoners, especially against
vulnerable prisoners, like those who have physical or mental disabilities.

Jails Project monitors also tour the jails on a regular basis. During these tours, the
monitors inspect the conditions in the jails, check logs that record prisoner and staff activity, and
interview prisoners.
The information in this report is gleaned from thousands of prisoner complaints the
ACLU received and dozens of jail tours the monitors conducted in 2008 and 2009. It is also
based on the observations of Dr. Terry Kupers, a nationally recognized expert in mental illness
and mental health treatment in prisons and jails. In May 2008, the ACLU retained Dr. Kupers to
tour MCJ and make findings regarding mental health services at MCJ and recommendations for
remedial measures. Dr. Kupers subsequently produced a report of his findings and
recommendations.4 Together, these sources provide insight into the conditions that the prisoners
inside Men‘s Central Jail endure every day. However, this report does not purport to provide a
comprehensive portrait, as several limitations apply.
First, there are several barriers to prisoners‘ ability to raise complaints with the ACLU
Jails Project. Prisoners must pay to call the Jails Project to lodge a complaint using calling cards
they purchase while inside the jail. Calls from the jail are exorbitantly expensive—the cost of the
average seventeen-minute call is $5.20 and the cost for the first minute of a collect local call can
be as much as $3.54. Many prisoners cannot afford the fee or choose to save the money they do

4

See Report of Dr. Terry Kupers, M.D., ―Report on Mental Health Issues at Los Angeles County
Jail‖ [hereinafter Kupers Report], available at http://www.aclu-sc.org/documents/view/173.
6

have to call family members or to purchases necessities, such as hygiene supplies, from the
commissary within the jail.
Even though many prisoners do write letters to the ACLU Jails Project, numerous
prisoners have told us that there is a widespread belief among the prisoner population that they
will face retaliation by LASD staff if they complain to the ACLU, and that their letters will not
reach the ACLU, which likely reduces the volume of written complaints the ACLU receives.
The prisoners and their families also regularly report delays in the mail or missing letters, which
also may reduce the number of complaints the ACLU receives from inside the jail.
Second, the report is based in large part on prisoner allegations and the observations of
the jail monitors. While the Sheriff‘s Department is generally cooperative in responding to and
following up on reports and complaints the Jails Project makes on behalf of prisoners, the
Department has also consistently refused to provide the ACLU with comprehensive
documentation verifying (or refuting) complaints, making it difficult to confirm the complaints
we receive, or the adequacy of the LASD‘s investigation and response. This is true even in
situations, including many of those documented in this report, when jails monitors are able to
observe and confirm the accuracy of prisoner complaints.
Moreover, the LASD has refused to provide the ACLU with the complaints prisoners file
through the Jail‘s grievance system, which processes thousands more complaints per year than
the Jails Project receives. As of the publication of this report, however, the LASD refuses to
share information with the ACLU regarding the number of complaints received annually, the
bases for those complaints, and the resolution reached. Thus, the ACLU lacks access to a
plentiful source of data for studying the conditions within the jail.

7

Despite these limitations, this report does provide a valuable view of the conditions in the
Los Angeles County Jails, particularly Men‘s Central Jail, and we hope that it will serve as a
useful tool to help advocates, legislators, and community members alike to understand conditions
in the jail, and to make informed decisions about the operations of the jail and our criminal
justice system, which drives the overcrowding that plagues the jail.

8

II.

VIOLENCE AND RETALIATION
Institutional violence continues to be a significant problem in Men‘s Central Jail. The

type of incidents reported range from prisoner-on-prisoner fights to deputies using excessive
force. One of the difficulties in assessing the full extent of the violence in MCJ, and in evaluating
the LASD‘s efforts to address it, is the department‘s refusal to share information with the ACLU
concerning the number of use of force incidents it investigates; its methods for investigating
allegations of deputy abuse; the resolution of internal investigations; and subsequent remedial
measures to prevent future violence from occurring. This lack of transparency and accountability
creates a cloud around the operations of the jail, as the Jails Project consistently receives
complaints from prisoners and family members alleging serious physical and verbal abuse at the
hands of the deputies in the jail, as well as cool indifference from LASD officials when prisoners
complain about the abuse.
There are considerable challenges involved in minimizing the violence in MCJ. The last
few decades of court intervention demonstrate that jail violence is a function of its culture, the
understaffing and inadequate training of deputies, overcrowding, prisoner idleness, the
ineffectiveness of LASD management and internal review and staff disciplinary mechanisms,
and the politics that excuse the mistreatment of prisoners. The ACLU continues to receive
numerous, credible reports that MCJ continues to be plagued by: (1) incidents of deputy abuse,
including excessive use of force; (2) retaliation for lodging grievance or complaints; and (3)
deputies‘ failure to protect the safety and well-being of prisoners; all of which are exacerbated by
the persistent overcrowding in the jail.

9

A.

Deputy Abuse

Many of the most troubling complaints the Jails Project receive involve allegations of
serious physical abuse of prisoners at the hand of deputies. While the jail monitors understand
the sensitive nature of allegations of abuse against law enforcement officers and are diligent in
investigating allegations of abuse so as not to pursue frivolous complaints, the monitors also
cannot ignore the persistent pattern of abuse at MCJ that they hear about from prisoners and their
ethical duty to advocate on behalf of the prisoners apparently suffering at the hands of what may
be a few rogue deputies.
Most of the allegations of abuse involve verbal abuse and unjustifiable disrespect.
Prisoners report that deputies constantly curse at them and yell at them, even when unprovoked.
Some report being called ―nigger‖ or ―faggot,‖ or being mocked because of a physical disability
or mental illness.5 However, many other complaints of abuse involve allegations of physical
abuse resulting in serious bodily harm.
The Los Angeles Sheriff‘s Department, like all other law enforcement entities within the
state of California, is bound by state standards codified in Title 15 of the California Code of
Regulations, which require officers to use force only when ―reasonably necessary to subdue an
attacker, overcome resistance, effect custody, or to gain compliance with a lawful order . . . .‖6
5

See e.g., declarations of Prisoner 27, July 1, 2009, at ¶ 7 (―The deputies abuse me saying things
like, ‗shut up, you are a fucking fagot [sic].‘‖); Prisoner 10, July 14, 2009, at ¶ 6 (called a
―nigger piece of shit‖ by deputies searching his cell). Note: Because of an apparent widespread
fear of retaliatory action, prisoners are often reluctant to file complaints. Thus, to preserve the
privacy and confidences of our clients, the names of the prisoners in the following anecdotes
have been removed and citations to declarations will refer to prisoners by numbers. A crossreferencing key matching the names of prisoners with the information cited in this report is on
file with the ACLU-SC.
6
15 Cal. Code of Reg. § 4034.2 (c) (―Force shall be used only when reasonably necessary to
subdue an attacker, overcome resistance, effect custody, or to gain compliance with a lawful
order. . . Employees may use reasonable force as required in the performance of their duties . .
.‖);15 Cal. Code of Reg. § 4034.1(b) (defining ―reasonable force‖ as ―[t]he amount of force that
10

Despite the command to use force only in narrow circumstances, when ―reasonably necessary,‖
however, in the last two years the ACLU Jails Project has documented several instances of
deputies apparently using excessive force on prisoners, both in terms of when they use force and
how much force is then applied. Consider a few examples:

•

Prisoner 32 reported that he had been assaulted by deputies ―multiple times.‖7 On one
occasion, he recalled, approximately 10-15 deputies entered his cell and started
hitting him. ―They dropped me to the floor and started to kick my head,‖ he reported.
―They hit me with their flashlights over and over again. They used their flashlights
like a bat, like I was a baseball or something. The deputies said I was trying to assault
one of them, but even after they had me on the floor with my hands behind my back
they kept hitting me. They tased me several times. One of the deputies later told me,
‗Man, I was trying to kill you.‘‖8 This prisoner reported that after the beating he
could not walk for 2 weeks, and even though he needed stitches, he refused medical
care because the deputies had warned him not to go to the clinic. ―Even though I
needed stitches, the deputies told me not to go to the clinic. They said that if I went to
the clinic they would beat me up even worse when I got back. The clinic tried calling
me in over and over for about a week, and I refused every time. I refused medical
care because the deputies told me to. I refused stitches. I refused a tetanus shot. I
refused everything.‖9

•

Prisoner 33 reported that on May 13, 2009, he was beaten up by a group of deputies,
even though he had done nothing to justify the beating.10 ―At some point during my
tier time,‖ he recalled, ―[one of the deputies] told me that the deputies needed to talk
to me. He took me to the front of the module, grabbed my hands, leaned up to my ear
and said, ‗Who‘s the fucking punk now? . . .‘ I kept telling him that I didn‘t want any
problems. He said, ‗It‘s too late now.‘ The first blow I felt was to the right side of my
temple. When I went down, I received a crushing blow to the top of my head. After
going down, all I can remember is trying to crawl away. Then a door flew open and a
bunch more deputies came in. I thought they were going to make the other stop, but
they all joined in. As I began to lose consciousness, I looked down and saw a pool of
blood. . . . At the very end, when I was already on the floor and barely conscious, the
deputies ripped my pants almost completely off and tasered me.‖11 This prisoner
explained, ―I can‘t think of a single thing I could have done to deserve this beating. I

an objective, trained, and competent Correctional Peace Officer, faced with similar facts and
circumstances, would consider necessary and reasonable to subdue an attacker, overcome
resistance, effect custody, or gain compliance with a lawful order.‖).
7

Declaration of Prisoner 32, October 23, 2009, at ¶ 4.
Id. at ¶¶ 4-5.
9
Id. at ¶ 7.
10
Declaration of Prisoner 33, October 7, 2009, at ¶ 5.
11
Id.
8

11

admit I‘ve been disrespectful at times, but nothing that deserves me nearly losing my
life.‖12

•

Prisoner 10 reported being beaten up by deputies and then being threatened should he
report the abuse.13 ―I was coming back from seeing my lawyer,‖ the prisoner
reported, ―[when] a few deputies surrounded me. I told them I didn‘t want problems
but they started kicking me and hitting me. They bruised my nose and forehead, split
my lip and sprained my arm. After they finished beating me they told me, ‗You tell
anybody about this and we‘ll kill you, you nigger bitch.‘ They told me to tell the
doctor that I fell and I told them I would. When I went to the nurse she asked how I
got hurt and I said I fell. . . . Since that beating I started having seizures and
migraines. I never had either of these problems before I got to Men‘s Central.‖14

•

Prisoner 34 reported that he was beaten up by a group of deputies because of his
alleged connection to a gang the deputies did not like. The gang was implicated in the
death of a LASD staff member. Even though this particular prisoner had no
connection to the deputy‘s death, deputies smashed his wrist where he had a tattoo of
the gang‘s name, breaking it in several places. The deputies also injured his face and
legs.15 The prisoner and the ACLU formally reported this incident to the Department,
but have received no response other than the investigation reference number.

In each of these incidents, there was no apparent justification for the use of force, and if
the circumstances did justify using force, the degree of force used appears to be clearly
disproportionate to the degree of danger justifying it. Equally troubling, however, is the LASD‘s
lack of transparency regarding the investigations prompted by these allegations, which the
ACLU has provided to the LASD.16
The ACLU commonly relays allegations of physical abuse to LASD staff (when
prisoners request this sharing of information) to facilitate internal policing and to protect the
prisoners in the jail. LASD staff has previously agreed to provide the ACLU with periodic
updates regarding the status of these investigations. However, it has become common practice
12

Id. at ¶ 6.
Declaration of Prisoner 10, July 14, 2009, at ¶ 9.
14
Id.
15
Complaint of Prisoner 34, send to LASD staff on March 12, 2009 (on file with the ACLU-SC).
16
Letter from Mark Rosenbaum, Chief Counsel, ACLU-SC, to Sheriff Leroy Baca, Sheriff, Los
Angeles County (Oct. 28, 2009) (on file with the ACLU-SC).
13

12

for the LASD to update the ACLU only when the ACLU demands the information. Furthermore,
the limited nature of the information the LASD provides—whether the investigation is ―active,‖
―closed‖ because the accusations were deemed ―unfounded,‖ or referred for further review—
gives little assurance about the adequacy and independence of the internal review process and
suggests that greater measures to ensure accountability should be taken.
The LASD has, for years, refused to disclose to the ACLU information about how it
reviews use of force incidents—what criteria it uses to assess the ―reasonableness‖ of the force
used, whether the reviewing body is independent from the LASD, whether the documentation of
use of force incidents is adequate enough to facilitate meaningful review—and this failure to
disclose only deepens suspicions about deputies‘ exercise of their discretion to determine when
and how to use force. This lack of transparency and accountability may only serve to reinforce a
culture within the LASD that allows abuse of prisoners to go relatively unchecked since, in the
end, there is apparently no independent source for weighing the prisoner‘s word against the
deputy‘s.
B.

Retaliation

At least since the inception of the ACLU‘s monitoring efforts, there has been a persistent
pattern of prisoners‘ claiming that they have been retaliated against and harassed by jail staff for
communicating with the ACLU or otherwise challenging the conditions of their confinement. In
many instances, prisoners have told us that deputies have made it clear that prisoners who file
grievances or communicate in any way with the ACLU will be punished. Staff have also
subjected prisoners to practices that coerce them into not cooperating or communicating with the

13

ACLU.17
Numerous prisoners report that LASD deputies have threatened and retailed against them
for filing grievances and for talking to the ACLU. Consider just a few complaints we have
received from prisoners that illustrate the culture of fear that permeates Los Angeles County jail
facilities:

•

On March 2, 2009, during a routine walk-through by the ACLU, Prisoner 35
complained that deputies had not been giving him showers and that he needed
medical attention.18 A few days later, a deputy escorted Prisoner 35 to another
module where he ordered him to stand against a wall.19 A second deputy referenced
Prisoner 35‘s complaint to the ACLU about access to showers and stated, ―We can
fix that,‖ as he slapped Prisoner 35 on the back of the head.20 The deputy then
proceeded to kick Prisoner 35‘s feet from under him, until he fell on the floor.21
While Prisoner 25 was on the ground, both deputies kicked and punched him in the
back and one deputy then hit him in the face and jaw with a flashlight several times.22
During the beating one of the deputies exclaimed, ―you f***ing whiners, tell this to
the ACLU, I dare you.‖23 Following the violent beating, Prisoner 35 was hospitalized
for a few days and received stitches on both sides of his face. 24

•

Prisoner 36 is a 29-year old man who has developmental disabilities and has
severe diabetes. On or about May 14, 2009 Prisoner 36 was returning to his cell from
pill call when a deputy told him he needed permission to return to his cell even
though other prisoners were freely returning to their cells.25 Prisoner 36 complied
with the deputy‘s request and faced the wall. 26 The deputy told Prisoner 36 that if he
turned around he would slap him. 27 The deputy grabbed Prisoner 36‘s hands together
and slapped him five times on the right side of the head.28 After the incident, Prisoner
36 contacted his mother about the incident. Prisoner‘s mother lodged a complaint to

17

Declarations of Prisoner 35, June 16, 2009, at ¶¶ 3, 5-6,9; Prisoner 14, June 10, 2009, at ¶¶ 56; see also, declaration of T. Weddle, at ¶ 14 (describing how deputy escorts do not provide
prisoners space and privacy during prisoners‘ contact with the ACLU).
18
Declaration of Prisoner 35, June 16, 2009, at ¶3
19
Id. at ¶4
20
Id. at ¶5.
21
Id. at ¶6.
22
Id.
23
Id.
24
Id. at ¶8.
25
Declaration of Prisoner 36, August 8, 2008, at ¶2.
26
Id. at ¶3.
27
Id.
28
Id. at ¶4.
14

the ACLU regarding his mistreatment.29 The next morning, a deputy removed
Prisoner 36 from his cell telling him that the nurse wanted to see him, asked him why
he reported the incident and removed his sheets, blanket, and food. 30 Some hours
later, another deputy came to Prisoner 36‘s cell accompanied by another prisoner.
The deputy ordered Prisoner 36‘s bunkmate to leave the cell, and left Prisoner 36 in
the cell with the prisoner.31 The prisoner beat Prisoner 36, punching him numerous
times on the face and head.32 After the beating, Prisoner 36 was taken to a room from
where deputies conducted a videotaped interview.33 During the interview the deputies
asked Prisoner 36, ―What have you told Mary from the ACLU?‖ referring to the
ACLU Jails Project Coordinator.34 LASD has declined to hand over the videotaped
interview.
These are just two of the most egregious examples of complaints the ACLU has received
that describe a wide variety of retaliatory acts taken against prisoners who filed grievances or
complaints against the LASD. However, examples like these abound in the stories collected
through the work of the Jails Project. Consider the following:

•

Prisoner 37 reported that he was assaulted by a group of deputies after inmates in his
module complained to the ACLU about infrequent shower access.35 He reported that
deputies held him down while he was handcuffed and broke both his ankles by striking
them repeatedly with their flashlights.36

•

Prisoner 38 reported he was assaulted by a group of deputies after he and other inmates
on his row complained about not receiving showers for weeks.37 He spent days in the
hospital because deputies broke his leg and he required surgery on his knee. The beating
had such a silencing effect on the rest of the tier that when the jail monitors visited the
row a few days after the beating, many inmates refused to talk to them. The few who did
spoke in hushed tones so that deputies would not hear them. They reported that they
thought Prisoner 38 had been beaten to death and they did not want the same thing to
happen to them.

•

Prisoner 39 reported that he was beaten by a group of deputies who tased and pepper-

29

Id.
Id. at ¶5.
31
Id. at ¶ 6.
32
Id.
33
Id. at ¶9.
34
Id. at ¶10.
35
Declaration of Prisoner 37, October 21, 2009.
36
Id. at ¶¶ 7-8.
37
Declaration of Prisoner 38, October 26, 2009.
30

15

sprayed him and broke his shoulder.38 Furthermore, he also claims that 15 minutes after
reporting one of the deputy‘s names to an investigating Lieutenant, that same deputy
escorted him to the hallway, yelled at him for complaining, and then forced him to strip
naked while he and several other deputies laughed at him.39
Moreover, more common than allegations of physical abuse in retaliation for complaints,
the Jails Project receives countless complaints of threats of retaliation. Even when those threats
do not materialize into actual physical harm to the prisoners, they do succeed in instilling a great
sense of fear in the prisoners about the consequences should they complain about the conditions
of their confinement. Actions like these account for the widespread fear of retaliation the jails
monitors consistently observe.
In the recent case of Brodheim v. Cry, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit Court recognized that officers‘ mere threats against prisoners may have as powerful a
chilling effect on their willingness to make complaints about their living conditions as does
actual physical abuse.40 Indeed, this is exactly what the jail monitors have observed in their
advocacy. In the experience of the jail monitors, both retaliatory actions like those described
above and threats of retaliation deter prisoners from bringing grievances forward. Such
retaliatory action, and the fear of retaliation, also hinders the ACLU from advocating on
prisoners‘ behalf. As a result of their fear of retaliatory action, prisoners frequently refuse to
communicate with the ACLU and ask that their complaints be reported anonymously, or not at
all.
One Jails Project monitor described a recent experience he had when he visited a housing

38

Declaration of Prisoner 39, October 19, 2009.
Id. at ¶¶ 8-12.
40
Brodheim v. Cry, 584 F. 3d 1262, 1271 (9th Cir. 2009) (noting that the chilling effect of a
threat on a prisoner‘s ability to petition the government for redress of grievances ―lies not in any
negative actions eventually taken, but in the apprehension it creates in the recipient of the
threat.‖).
39

16

unit he had visited some weeks earlier.41 On his first walk-through, prisoners were willing to
speak to him regarding an assault that had taken place on their row. On a subsequent visit,
however, the monitor reported that the prisoners ―looked genuinely afraid to speak‖ to him.
―[A]lmost all the detainees looked genuinely afraid to speak to me as I approached their cell
fronts,‖ he noted, ―Their eyes darted back and forth from me to the escort to the sergeant. Some
of them bowed and showed their heads and said they did not have anything to say. Other
detainees whispered that things had gotten bad since my visit and asked what I was doing to
protect them.‖42
Other prisoners and their families also report they have been subject to threats,
harassment, or harm because of their involvement in ACLU monitoring and their contact with
the Jails Project monitors. Prisoners report being confronted by prison officials about their
participation in ACLU litigation and monitoring; placed or retained in segregation for their
participation; denied opportunities to take a shower; denied visits from family members and use
of the telephone, among other things.43 One ACLU advocate described a complaint he received
from a prisoner claiming he was denied access to see a dentist, even though he had a broken
tooth and was in severe pain: ―[D]eputies told him that was the price he would have to pay for

41

Declaration of T. Weddle at ¶ 15.
Id.
43
See ACLU Report to LASD at ¶ 8 (Mar. 4, 2009) (on file with the ACLU-SC) (describing how
deputies tamper and destroy prisoners‘ personal property and legal documents, and threaten
prisoners with abuse or other punitive actions for communicating with the ACLU) (―Many of the
prisoners said they feared retaliation for talking to the ACLU. They said they were worried that
the deputies in the dorms would turn off their program or throw away their property after the
ACLU representatives left the facility.‖); ACLU Report to LASD at ¶ 7 (Jun. 4, 2009)
(―[Prisoner] reports that he had been retaliated against for appealing out regarding the incident
involving deputies and another prisoner. Prisoner reports that he has been in contact with the
mother of the prisoner and the ACLU and the deputies are aware of this. Prisoner reports that
the afternoon/night shift deputies are threatening him to stay quiet or he will receive similar
treatment.‖).
42

17

speaking to the ACLU.‖44
While on a recent routine walk-through, the jail monitor noted that a prisoner was so
afraid to come to the bars to speak that he hung back in his cell, shaking and crying. The
monitor had to act as if she were inspecting the floor and ceiling as she interviewed the prisoner
because he did not want it to look like he was talking to her.45
Retaliatory action of this kind interferes with the ACLU‘s monitoring role. The ACLU
has made several efforts to resolve the matter informally,46 but these efforts have largely failed
in light of LASD‘s view that ―there simply is no history of retaliation against prisoners by
Department members.‖47 In the summer of 2009, in response to ACLU advocacy efforts, MCJ
adopted a policy prohibiting jail staff from questioning prisoners about any of their contacts with
the ACLU, or retaliating against prisoners on account of their contacts with the ACLU.48
However, this policy has been largely ineffective because prisoners are not aware it exists—the
policy is not posted anywhere in the jail, nor are prisoners informed of the policy when they
enter the jail—and, as a result, they do not file formal grievances when retaliatory action is taken
44

Declaration of T. Weddle at ¶ 19.
M. Tiedeman, Jails Coordinator, ACLU-SC, notes from June 23, 2009, jail visit (on file with
the ACLU-SC).
46
Letter from M. Bird, Senior Counsel, American Civil Liberties Union, to R. Granbo, Office of
County Counsel, and P. Beach, Lawrence, Beach, Allen & Choi (June 19, 2009) (on file with the
ACLU-SC) (―[A]s you know, we have raised the issue of retaliation against detainees who
complain to the ACLU on many occasions in our monthly meetings with the Department. Many,
many class members tell us that they are too fearful to speak with us or to file complaints
because of what will happen to them if they do so. These allegations of retaliation make it
almost impossible for our staff to effectively monitor conditions in the jail. For example, we
have been forced to reduce our jail-front contact with class members because they report that if
they speak to us, deputies harass and intimidate them after we leave the jail.‖).
47
Letter from P. Beach, Lawrence, Beach, Allen & Choi to M. Bird, Senior Counsel, American
Civil Liberties Union (Jul. 12, 2009)(on file with the ACLU-SC)(―[I]n fact, as has been
explained to you on various occasions, there simply is no history of retaliation against prisoners
by Department members. Your repeated assertions (vague and ambiguous) do not make it true.‖).
48
Los Angeles County Sheriff‘s Department, Custody Division Men‘s Central Jail, Unit Order:
5-12-010, Subject: Retaliation Against Inmates Who Make Complaints to the ACLU or Other
Inmate Advocacy Groups.
45

18

against them, or when they are the recipient of retaliatory threats.
C.

Failure to Protect the Safety and Well-Being of Prisoners

Correctional officers have a constitutional duty to protect prisoners from violence at the
hands of other prisoners. In 1994, the United States Supreme Court held that a correctional
official may be liable for failing to protect the safety and well-being of prisoners ―if he knows
that prisoners face a substantial risk of serious harm and disregard[s] that risk by failing to take
reasonable measures to abate it.‖49 Under this decision, LASD personnel may violate the Eighth
and Fourteenth Amendments by making housing decisions that place specific prisoners at risk
and create situations in which individual prisoners are subject to violence at the hands of other
prisoners.
Combining prisoners of notably different security levels in the same cell or dorm is one
way in which the LASD increases the risk of prisoner-on-prisoner violence.50 The classification
system at Los Angeles County Jail utilizes ―individual risk factors to predict how a given
prisoner will behave‖ when in custody with other prisoners.51 Assigning prisoners to housing by
security level minimizes the risk of violence because it provides a system that separates prisoners
who pose a risk to other prisoners.52 For instance, a prisoner testifying against another prisoner

49

Id. at 847.
Megan Garvey, An Urgent Appeal For Jail Safety, L.A. TIMES, Feb. 15, 2006 available at
http://articles.latimes.com/2006/feb/15/local/me-jails15. The practice of mixing security levels
was deemed ―not permissible‖ under any circumstances in a 2005 confidential report to the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors that raises numerous safety concerns about the jails‘ use of
security classifications. However, this practice continues to happen every day. For example,
mixing prisoners of different security levels occurs every day during courtline, when prisoners
are transferred to and from the courthouse.
51
POLICE ASSESSMENT RESOURCE CENTER; THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF‘S DEPARTMENT,
22ND SEMIANNUAL REPORT, at 7 (2006).
52
Id. at 12.
50

19

will receive a K-2 designation, while the prisoner he is testifying against will be made a K-3, a
designation that tells staff he is to be kept away from all K-2s, and vice versa.53
Despite this apparently clear-cut system for protecting the well-being of the prisoners in
its custody, the Jails Project receives numerous complaints alleging that deputies have carelessly,
or even purposefully, placed them in harm‘s way. For example, in 2008, following an argument
with a deputy, Prisoner 14, a 56-year old registered sex offender, was sent to a general
population unit with a card identifying him as a registered sex offender.54 Upon entering the unit,
a deputy handed the card to a prisoner and instructed the prisoner to ―take care of it.‖55 On
February 15, 2008, prisoners stabbed Prisoner 14 under the eye and hit him so hard in the head
that he had a bowel movement.56 Even though deputies were present during this beating, they
did not intervene.57
Not long after he returned to Men‘s Central Jail, deputies called Prisoner 14 to the chapel
and told him that the incident had been reported to the ACLU.58 Deputies then demanded that
Prisoner 14 sign a paper for the ACLU stating that nothing had happened, warning him that if he
did not sign the paper he would be put in the ―hole.‖59
Other prisoners have provided similar accounts of being set up by LASD personnel to be
attacked by other prisoners. For example, in the four months Prisoner 12 has been in MCJ,
deputies have placed him in situations where he was at heightened risk of being attacked by other
prisoners.60 On one occasion, deputies sent prisoners into Prisoner 12‘s cell to ―discipline‖
53

Id.
Declaration of Prisoner 14, at ¶7.
55
Id.
56
Id.
57
Id.
58
Id.
59
Id.
60
Declaration of Prisoner 12, at ¶ 5.
54

20

him.61 This ―discipline‖ consisted of prisoners hitting him on the face, head and sides.62
Prisoner 12 rolled himself into a ball to protect himself from the blows.63 Nonetheless, he
suffered nose bleeds, busted lips, a chipped tooth, and cuts and bruises from these beatings.64
D.

Recommendations: Eradicating the Culture of Violence

The regulation of violence is, by itself, insufficient to prevent abuse. Prison conditions
can and do breed violence. Many prisoners suffer from mental illnesses that inhibit their ability
to control their own behavior. When these and other prisoners are left idle in overcrowded,
antiquated facilities with inadequate mental health services and custodial staff, violence is likely,
if not inevitable.65 In order to curb the violence at the LA County Jail, the ACLU proposes the
following recommendations:

•

Reduce Crowding. Crowding fuels violence by pushing deputies to rely on physical force
as a means of control rather than communication; making it difficult to classify and assign
prisoners safely; making it hard for deputies to see inmate on inmate violence in the dorms;
and presenting a significant obstacle to identifying prisoners with mental illness. Vital
services are undermined or made operationally impossible, and there are problems with
excessive noise, heat, and tension. Thus, the ACLU urges LASD to work with corrections
administrators to set and meet reasonable limits on the number of prisoners that MCJ can
safely house.

•

Incorporate a direct supervision model. Recognizing that the control of violence depends
not only on executing accepted policies for regulating the use and supervision of force, but
also on the overall management of the facility, some localities have adopted the direct
supervision model. Within a direct supervision jail model, prisoners cells are arranged in a
―pod‖ around a common area, usually called a ―dayroom.‖ There is no secure control booth
for the supervision officer, and there are no physical barriers between the officer and the
prisoners. The officer is stationed in the pod with the prisoners and moves about the pod,
interacting with prisoners to manage their behavior.

61

Id.
Id.
63
Id.
64
Id.
65
For more on the connection between overcrowding and violence see Katherine Beckett &
Theodore Sasson, The Politics of Injustice 177 (2004); Alexis M. Durham, Crisis and Reform:
Current Issues in American Punishment 48-49 (1994); Craig Haney, Reforming Punishment:
Psychological Limits to the Pains of Imprisonment 202, 205 (2005).
62

21

There is evidence that this model provides reasonable assurance to prisoners that they will be
treated fairly and not fall victim to acts of violence. In a study by the National Institute of
Corrections, those who run direct supervision facilities gave their own facilities higher safety
ratings and concluded that prisoners appear to feel safer in direct supervision facilities and
seem neither to have nor need weapons to protect themselves.66 Another study reported that
using the direct supervision model reduced violent incidents by 30 to 90 percent.67 While this
design seemingly places officers at the mercy of prisoners, it enables officers to form
relationships with prisoners and "recognize and respond to trouble before it escalates into
violence.‖68 Under this model, ―negotiation and communication become more important staff
skills than brute strength." 69

•

Use force and non-lethal weaponry only as a last resort. The LASD should dramatically
reduce the use of non-lethal weapons, restraints, and physical force by using non-forceful
responses whenever possible, restricting the use of weaponry to qualified staff, and
eliminating the use of restraints except when necessary to prevent serious injury to self or
others. Training and supervision must emphasize that force can only be considered after nonphysical responses to conflict have been exhausted. LASD must train its personnel to learn
how to distinguish between situations that require physical force and those that do not.
Training should also equip LASD personnel with the tools to determine what amount of force
- if any - is required and when force is no longer necessary. Instruction should be backed up
by a clear use-of-force hierarchy that prescribes specific kinds and degrees of force in
response to a limited set of specific actions and situations, and it should outline de-escalation
techniques to prevent the use of force.

•

Provide deputies with specific training on dealing with inmates with mental illness.
Deputies should also be trained on the handling of prisoners with mental illness to make it

66

Jay Farbstein and Richard Wener, A Comparison of “Direct” and “Indirect” Supervision
Correctional Facilities, National Institute of Corrections, June 1, 1989 available at
http://www.nicic.org/pubs/pre/007807.pdf (last visited on February 9, 2010).
67
Richard Wener, F.W. Frazier and Jay Farbstein Direct Supervision of Correctional Institutions
(1987) reprinted in National Institute of Corrections, Podular, Direct Supervision Jails:
Information Packet (1993) available at http://www.nicic.org/Library/015527 (last visited on
February 9, 2010); see also, John J. Gibbons and Nicholas de B. Katzenbach, Prison Reform:
Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons: Confronting Confinement 22 J.L. &
POLITICS 385,430 (2006) (―[C]olonel David Parrish, Commander of the jails in Hillsborough
County, Florida, agrees: ‗Direct supervision is recognized by progressive jail administrators as
the most practical way to build and operate a detention facility. They are more staff efficient,
cost-effective, and safer than traditional jails,‘ he told the Commission.‖).
68
Richard Wener, F.W. Frazier and Jay Farbstein Direct Supervision of Correctional Institutions
(1987) reprinted in National Institute of Corrections, Podular, Direct Supervision Jails:
Information Packet (1993) available at http://www.nicic.org/Library/015527 (last visited on
February 9, 2010).
69
Id.
22

more likely that confrontations with mentally ill prisoners will be avoided, or short-circuited
before they lead to violence.

•

Use a classification system that has been validated. Validation is a well-accepted process
by which a classification system is tested and reviewed to ensure that prisoners are being
evaluated based on neutral and objective criteria which ensure that they are appropriately
housed. Many organizations, including the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), an arm of
the U.S. Department of Justice, validate classification systems of jails and prisons around the
country. The LASD should have its classification system validated by one of these outside
organizations.

•

The Sheriff Should ask the NIC for a Technical Assistance Audit of Staffing and
Security Practices at the Jail. The NIC also provides technical assistance to prisons and
jails around the country on their operations, including staffing and security operations. This
technical assistance includes on-site expert assessments of operations and conditions, and
results in an audit report that provides recommendations to correct deficiencies. The NIC
provides these services free of charge if requested by the official in charge of the facility. In
this case, that would be Sheriff Baca. Given the serious allegations of understaffing,
excessive force, and overcrowding raised by the ACLU, both through their monitoring efforts
and in this report, the Sheriff should request technical assistance from the NIC so that
operations in the jail can be assessed by an objective expert, and conditions can be improved.

23

III.

MENTAL HEALTH CARE IN MEN’S CENTRAL JAIL
“[I]t seems like there is no way to get [mental health] treatment while in MCJ. I feel
like I don‟t have any way to get the help I need. I am a citizen, and I deserve to be
treated like one.‖70
Prisoners receiving treatment for mental illness in the Los Angeles Jail System: 11.8%71
Prisoners receiving medication for mental illness in MCJ: 7.7%72
Prisoners who need mental health treatment according to national statistics: 23.6%73

The Los Angeles Sheriff‘s Department is obligated under the U.S. Constitution to treat
prisoners‘ serious mental health needs. Mental health treatment must ―entail more than
segregation and close supervision‖ of the prisoners.74 There are six components of a minimally
adequate prison mental health care delivery system: (1) a systematic program for screening and
evaluating prisoners to identify those in need of mental health care; (2) a treatment program that
involves more than segregation and close supervision of mentally ill prisoners; (3) employment
of a sufficient number of trained mental health professionals; (4) maintenance of accurate,
complete and confidential mental health treatment records; (5) administration of psychotropic
medication only with appropriate supervision and periodic evaluation; and (6) a basic program to
identify, treat, and supervise prisoners at risk for suicide.75

70

Declaration of Prisoner 1, June 10, 2009, at ¶ 11.
Kupers Report, supra note 4, at 5-6. Note: These figures are up to date as of spring 2008 as
they are based on estimates provided Dr. Terry Kupers relying on information from his April
2008 tour of MCJ. More recent, updated figures are not currently available as the LASD
continues to refuse to provide the ACLU with documentation of the number of prisoners in the
Los Angeles County Jail System who are currently on the mental health caseload.
72
See Id. at 6.
73
See Id.
74
Balla v. Idaho State Bd. of Corr., 595 F. Supp. 1558, 1577 (D. Idaho 1984).
75
Coleman v. Wilson, 912 F. Supp. 1282, 1298 (E.D. Cal. 1995).
71

24

The Constitution requires that prisons maintain a ―systematic program‖ to screen and
evaluate prisoners in order to identify those needing mental health treatment.76 A proactive
mental health evaluation system is necessary in part because prisoners who are severely mentally
ill are generally not capable of initiating the communication and making their needs known to
staff.77
Treatment requires trained qualified mental health professionals, ―employed in sufficient
numbers to identify and treat in an individualized manner‖ prisoners with serious mental
disorders.78 ―[P]rescription and administration of behavior-altering medications in dangerous
amounts, by dangerous methods, or without appropriate supervision and periodic evaluation, is
an unacceptable method of treatment.‖79 ―[A] basic program for the identification, treatment and
supervision of prisoners with suicidal tendencies‖ is also a necessary component of any mental
health treatment program.80
The mental health care treatment the LASD provides the prisoners in its custody—
particularly those in MCJ—falls short of these minimum constitutional requirements in several
respects. In May 2008, the ACLU retained Dr. Terry Kupers, a nationally recognized expert in
mental illness and mental health treatment in prisons and jails, to tour Men‘s Central Jail and
make findings and recommendations for remedial measures. Dr. Kupers spent two days touring
the jail, meeting with staff and prisoners, and reviewing records. He produced a report of his
findings and recommendations, which the ACLU provided to the LASD in July 2008. This
76

Balla, 595 F. Supp. at 1577;
Madrid v. Gomez, 889 F. Supp. 1146, 1259 (N.D. Cal. 1995); Coleman, 912 F. Supp at 1305.
78
Balla, 595 F. Supp. at 1577.
79
Balla., 595 F. Supp. at 1577 (―Wholesale prescription of psychotropic drugs is an unacceptable
means of dealing with psychiatric disorders. . . . [T]he prescription of these drugs cannot
supplant the necessity of psychiatric counseling.‖).
80
Id. at 1577. Accord Coleman, 912 F. Supp. at 1298 n.10 (citing Balla, 595 F. Supp. at 1577);
77

25

report, as well our observations in the months after the report was issued, demonstrates the need
for systemic reform in the mental health care provided at MCJ.
Dr. Kupers found that, despite very large numbers of seriously mentally ill prisoners
entering the jail, and in part due to the relative shortage in mental health treatment resources, the
LASD engaged in a pattern of inappropriately down-grading diagnoses of mental illness (or
―declassifying‖ them from the mental health caseload), or simply failing to identify and diagnose
mentally ill prisoners who had long psychiatric histories, or displayed mental health symptoms.81
Dr. Kupers found that mental health staff all too often placed ―too much emphasis on current
symptomatology . . . . If the individual is not grossly disturbed the moment he is assessed,
possibly in reception, he is too often declared to be malingering.‖82
As a result, mentally ill prisoners remain housed in general population at the Men‘s
Central Jail, or in administrative or disciplinary segregation units at MCJ. These units are
severely overcrowded, and do not have adequate mental health staff.83 The only mental health
treatment available in these units is medication; there are no structured mental health
programming or psychosocial rehabilitation services offered; inmates receive very little out-ofcell time; ―and in too many cases [there is] victimization by other prisoners and/or significant
abuse at the hands of custody staff.‖84
Dr. Kupers found that LASD‘s practice of inappropriately housing seriously mentally ill
prisoners and detainees in these conditions worsens their psychiatric disorders and increases their
likelihood of attempting suicide.85 In particular, Dr. Kupers found that the jail‘s practice of
inappropriately housing seriously mentally ill prisoners and detainees in disciplinary segregation
81

See id. at 25-35.
Id. at 32.
83
Id. at 21-23.
84
Id. at 14, 23-33, 44.
85
Id. at 33- 40.
82

26

subjects them to extra harsh conditions and isolation that predictably exacerbates their
psychiatric disorders.86 He also found evidence that it is ―very likely‖ that there is an
unacceptably high incidence of custodial abuse at MCJ, disproportionately directed against the
seriously mentally ill prisoners.87 Dr. Kupers concluded that the overcrowding in MCJ is so
excessive, the other conditions of confinement in the jail so harsh, and the denial of basic mental
health care so extreme, as to create a toxic environment likely to cause psychiatric breakdown,
even in some individuals who do not have previous symptoms of mental illness.
Dr. Kupers also found that there were serious problems with the very limited mental
health services that MCJ prisoners did receive. Dr. Kupers concluded that jail staff had failed to
prescribe appropriate medications, and had not adequately addressed medication non-compliance
by mentally ill prisoners.88 Dr. Kupers also noted that medical records were difficult to navigate,
even for the jail‘s mental health staff; the charts he reviewed did not contain treatment plans; and
these and other ―inadequacies in charting have actually become an obstacle to adequate mental
health treatment.‖89
The County of Los Angeles, including the LASD, has failed to remedy many of the
serious systemic problems identified by Dr. Kupers in the two years since he issued his report.
The remainder of this section discusses the ongoing problems with MCJ‘s mental health system,
as well as recommendations for improving mental health services.
A.

Problems with Initial Mental Health Assessments and Access to Mental
Health Care at MCJ

Mentally ill prisoners who have been previously diagnosed and treated while in the
community, or while they were incarcerated in the state prison system, or during previous stays
86

Id.
Id. at 40-43.
88
See id. at 27-33.
89
Id. at 25.
87

27

at the LA jail, continue to report that they have been denied treatment at MCJ. For example, one
prisoner reported that he had not been able to secure psychiatric treatment or even psychiatric
medications during his 15 month stay at MCJ, even though he had been diagnosed with bipolar
disorder several years earlier and had filed numerous complaints with jail staff communicating
this information.90 Another prisoner reported having to wait three months after intake before he
saw a psychiatrist, even though he had a 20-year history of bipolar disorder and paranoid
schizophrenia that could be confirmed by state agencies.91 He described his experience waiting
for psychiatric treatment: ―When I don‘t take my medication I become homicidal and I can‘t
sleep and I start shaking. I‘m trying to control my thoughts and my anger because I don‘t want to
hurt anybody while I‘m here.‖92
Yet another prisoner reported that even though he had an outside diagnosis of anxiety and
depression, he had to wait several weeks and file approximately ten complaints with deputies
before he was allowed to see a psychiatrist.93 However, even after he was allowed to see a
psychiatrist he was declassified, or ―declassed‖ four times because he was not presenting
symptoms. That is, he was removed from the mental health caseload and denied the medications
that stabilized him, forcing him to undergo the process of waiting to see a psychiatrist and
seeking a diagnosis and medication all over again before receiving treatment for conditions that
had been diagnosed outside the jail.94

90

Declaration of Prisoner 2, June 22, 2009, at ¶¶ 3, 9.
Declaration of Prisoner 3, July 14, 2009, at ¶¶ 4-5.
92
Id. at ¶ 5.
93
Declaration of Prisoner 4, June 24, 2009, at ¶¶ 3-4.
94
Id. See also declaration of Prisoner 5, June 22, 2009, at ¶¶ 4-6 (20 years with a diagnosis of
schizophrenia, on SSI and receiving treatment from County Mental Health Services before arrest,
did not receive psychotropic medications for 3 months, doctors told him he did not ―fit the
criteria‖ of a mentally ill patient).
91

28

Furthermore, many prisoners report providing the intake staff at the jails with information
about their specific diagnoses and prescriptions, as well as contact information to obtain
psychiatric records, only then to be classified into the general population within the jail and
denied adequate treatment because the intake staff concluded that they did not currently present
severe mental illness symptoms.95 For example, one prisoner who had been diagnosed with
paranoid schizophrenia in the community—and had even been hospitalized for his condition—
reported that he was unable to convince the psychiatrists he spoke to upon entering MCJ of his
need for the same medication he was on before his arrest, even though he was evaluated by
mental health staff twice and had informed them of his prior diagnosis and hospitalization.96 He
explained, ―Both times I told them about my condition and they haven‘t prescribed my
medication. Without my medication, I am paranoid, my thoughts are racing, I pace in my cell, I
put tissue in my ears to try to block out the voices.‖97
The deficiency of this symptomatology-based approach to psychological evaluation is
only exacerbated by the cursory nature of the initial mental health assessment prisoners receive
at the Jail. Dr. Kupers noted that an accurate diagnosis requires spending significant time with
the patient, and most of the diagnoses reached outside the jail are the product of lengthy
evaluations. By contrast, the psychological assessments conducted during the jail intake process
are far more cursory and thus far more likely to be inaccurate. For example, one prisoner who
had been diagnosed with severe mental illness as a teenager reported that his psychiatric
evaluation took only 45 seconds: ―The doctor here told me that I was trying to play the system

95

Declarations of Prisoner 6, June 25, 2009, at ¶ 3; Prisoner 7, June 25, 2009, at ¶ 4
Declaration of Prisoner 8, July 23, 2009, at ¶¶ 3-4.
97
Id.
96

29

and that I wasn‘t sick. He diagnosed me after 45 seconds. . . . [He] took me off all of my
medication which I had previously been on.‖98
One disturbing consequence of the inadequacy of the initial mental health evaluations at
MCJ is that many prisoners feel the only way to get psychiatric attention is to act out in some
way. For example, one prisoner explains:
When I first came into jail, I was on a breathing machine in the hospital. I was
placed in a medical ward and despite my requests for mental health treatment, I
was ignored. I finally broke a window during an episode while feeling suicidal.
After breaking the window, I finally saw a psych, but I was also punished for
breaking the window. When I was in LA county jails previously, I received
mental health treatment. I‘ve been in the Tarzana Mental Health Center, and when
I was in prison, I was classed EOP [Enhanced Outpatient Program]. I told the
psych that I was EOP, but I was still de-classed from the Towers. I have been
receiving mental health treatment since I was 9 years old.99
In this instance, and many others, the property damage and the disciplinary action may
both have been avoided if the prisoner had been more thoroughly screened when he entered jail.
His long record of mental health treatment, particularly treatment within Los Angeles County
jails and state prisons, should have flagged him for quicker attention and a thorough assessment
of his mental health condition and need for mental health treatment
Likewise, prisoners who view the mechanisms for requesting psychiatric help as broken
or ineffective feel the need to engage in extreme actions such as suicide attempts or violence
against others as the only way to obtain a response from mental health staff.100 One prisoner
expressed this sentiment: ―The hole has been the best place for me. Generally, the hole is the
98

Declaration of Prisoner 9, June 10, 2009, at ¶¶ 4-5. Another prisoner who had been diagnosed
with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia 7 years before his arrest described a similar experience
with the JMET walkthroughs: ―When I finally saw the psych, we spoke for 1 or 2 minutes. The
psych talked to me really fast and it felt like she was just trying to get rid of me.‖ Declaration of
Prisoner 10, July 21, 2009, at ¶¶ 3-5.
99
Declaration of Prisoner 1, June 10, 2009, at ¶¶ 2-3.
100
For example, one prisoner gave a chilling description of his experience: ―The deputies ignore
my mental health conditions and it seems to me that they will not give me my medication until I
seriously hurt myself.‖ Declaration of Prisoner 11, June 18, 2009, at ¶ 5.
30

only place where I get my special medication and diet. . . . The only place where I get
appropriate medical treatment is in discipline. I‘m tempted to earn discipline time just so I can
stay in the hole.‖101
B.

Overcrowded and Noxious Conditions at MCJ Exacerbate Mental Illness
and Overwhelm the Facility’s Very Limited Mental Health System

In his report, Dr. Kupers noted that the noxious, overcrowded conditions inside MCJ
exacerbate mental illness for those prisoners who are prone to mental health problems and can
produce symptoms of mental illness in prisoners who were previously healthy.102 Dr. Kupers
described the overcrowded jails and their effect on a prisoner‘s mental health:
Consider a dormitory that was built for a small number but had to be expanded to
house 150 prisoners in bunk beds lined up in rows . . . . A prisoner cannot move
more than a few feet away from a neighbor, and lines form at the pay telephones
and urinals. Likewise, when four men are crowded into the small [four-man] cells
I observed, there is barely enough room for one man to get off his bunk and head
for the urinal. In most cells . . . there are no chairs and no desks, so sitting or lying
on one‘s bunk are the only options. With tough men crowded into small spaces
and forced to lie on their bunks or wait in lines . . . altercations are inevitable. . . .
Irritability mounts, tempers flare. Some men get into fights or curse an officer and
are ticketed and sentenced to a stint in disciplinary segregation. As the men
become angrier, their confusion and symptoms of serious mental illness mount.103
Dr. Kupers also observed other ―destructive‖ conditions of MCJ.104 Prisoners spend
nearly 24 hours per day in their cells or packed into overcrowded dormitories. They eat their
meals there and because of a lack of programming have little opportunity to leave their cells or
dorms other than for the 3 hours per week of recreation time. The lighting in their cells is
insufficient for reading in the day. The practice of leaving some lights on all night interferes
with sleep.105 The vast majority of the cells are windowless so prisoners have little awareness of
101

Declaration of Prisoner 9, June 10, 2009, at ¶¶ 4, 8.
Kupers Report, supra note 4, at 7, 33-40.
103
Id. at 7.
104
Id. at 12.
105
Id.
102

31

what time of day it is, and because of the older architecture and acoustics of the jail the noise
level is very high.106
Dr. Kupers explained that subjecting individuals who have, or are prone to, mental illness
to these overcrowded conditions and to this degree of idleness has the effect of fostering or
worsening their mental illnesses.107 Some men become irritable and angry and act out
aggressively against other inmates or deputies; others retreat to their bunks where they remain all
day. ―If they are prone to depression, the self-imposed isolation within the crowded space
worsens their condition and leads to thoughts of self-harm.‖108
This effect is one that the jail monitors have observed in their work at MCJ as well. For
example, one prisoner suffering from schizophrenia described his experience living in a 4-man
cell. He explained to the jail monitors that living in cramped quarters aggravated his condition,
that he felt he was around too many people, and that he wanted to be in a cell with fewer people
and more space: ―When I am around too many people I scream and sometimes pee on the sides
of the toilet. Cellmates generally get angry at me and they don‘t understand my conditions. This
gets me in trouble and it forces me to fight. I get into it with them because I try to force them to
understand me.‖109 ―The jails are noisy,‖ he said, ―It is like an amusement park. When it is too
noisy it makes me feel as if someone is out to get me. It makes me feel paranoid like my cell is
about to open up and someone will come and get me.‖110 Another prisoner suffering from bipolar
disorder and depression echoed a similar sentiment: ―I feel like the jail conditions made me

106

Id.
Id. at 7, 37.
108
Id. at 7-8.
109
Declaration of Prisoner 12, July 16, 2009, at ¶ 4.
110
Id. at ¶ 6.
107

32

worse. In particular, I have always felt claustrophobic and being closed in was just too much. I
just couldn‘t deal with it.‖111
Moreover, Dr. Kupers found that the conditions in disciplinary segregation were even
more toxic than those in the jail‘s general population units.112 There is a disproportionate number
of prisoners with serious mental illness in disciplinary segregation units, which tends to amplify
the already chaotic atmosphere there.113 Prisoners suffering from mental illness often shout or
cry at night, making it difficult for others to sleep.114 Others act out against deputies, increasing
the level of tension between the officers and the prisoners in the unit.115 In disciplinary housing,
unlike in housing for the general population, prisoners are housed in single-man cells. This
increases social isolation, which, for prisoners with severe mental illness, often causes them to
―suffer a great deal of pain and mental deterioration . . . .‖116
The result is an endless cycle of psychiatric distress within the jail. Conditions in the jail,
which are largely the result of overcrowding, exacerbate the mental illness of prisoners prone to
mental health problems and cause previously healthy prisoners to begin experiencing and
displaying psychiatric symptoms. The large number of prisoners needing mental health treatment
overwhelms the limited resources of the jail‘s mental health care system and results in many
prisoners receiving inadequate treatment, at best, and many other prisoners receiving no
treatment at all. The lack of adequate mental health treatment for those prisoners then leads to
many of them acting out and/or being placed in disciplinary segregation, where their mental

111

Declaration of Prisoner 10, July 21, 2009, at ¶ 3.
Kupers Report, supra note 4, at 33-40.
113
Id. at 34.
114
See Id.
115
Id.
116
Id. at 36.
112

33

health may further deteriorate. This, in turn, contributes to the toxic conditions in those units and
throughout the jail.
C.

Problems with Confidentiality of Care

The lack of confidentiality at MCJ for mental health interviews and treatment is another
major barrier to adequate mental health care for prisoners. At MCJ, mental health evaluations
often take place at prisoners‘ cells during unit walkthroughs conducted by the Jails Mental
Evaluation Teams (JMET). Each JMET unit consists of one deputy sheriff and one Department
of Mental Health clinician. The teams are tasked with providing outreach mental health services
to prisoners and identifying prisoners who develop new mental health symptoms while in jail. To
meet this goal, JMET units periodically walk through the jails asking prisoners whether they are
experiencing any psychological distress. Despite the good intentions of the JMET teams and the
Department of Mental Health staff, however, the lack of confidentiality for their cell-side
assessments of prisoners impedes these efforts.
Many prisoners feel concerned about candidly relaying their mental health issues within
earshot of both other prisoners and deputies in their housing location because doing so could
jeopardize their personal safety. This concern often leads prisoners to self-censor rather than risk
putting themselves in danger of bodily harm. The confidentiality of the mental health
walkthroughs at MCJ are further compromised by the presence of deputies alongside the mental
health personnel. One prisoner explained, ―I told the clinician that I was concerned about the
deputy standing so close. He told me not to worry about the deputy, and that the deputy could
stand there. I saw the deputy making mocking expressions while other prisoners reported
complaints…. After the mental health guy walked the row, he pulled me down to the end of the
tier. I was still within earshot of the deputy and all the other prisoners on the tier. When I got

34

down there, the mental health person started asking me why it had to be secret. He had an
attitude that minimized all of my concerns.‖117
The experience of this prisoner tallies with the experience of the jail monitors, who have
observed numerous JMET walkthroughs. One monitor described an assessment she observed:
The JMET nurse had the prisoner sign a release of information to allow me to be
present during the interview. She did not, however, do this for the deputy. The
deputy sat within 2 feet of the interview and listened to the entire conversation.
The nurse stated that this deputy was bound by confidentiality, just the same as
she was bound. She did not, however, explain this to the prisoners until I asked
her to do so. She stated that she would never interview prisoners in private
without a deputy standing over them.118
By keeping deputies present during the evaluation and refusing to acknowledge concerns
a prisoners has about the deputy‘s presence, the mental health staff greatly limit the effectiveness
of their evaluations and, as a result, the effectiveness of the mental health treatment they can
provide.
D.

Improper Disciplinary Measures Used on Prisoners with Mental Illness

Mentally ill prisoners may be more likely to have conflicts with deputies, particularly
those deputies who lack training on how to interact with prisoners with mental illness. Prisoners
with mental illness can seem insubordinate, unresponsive to deputy commands, and even prone
to violence. Untrained deputies naturally respond to these behaviors by disciplining prisoners,
which can result in their being placed in solitary confinement or ―the hole.‖119 Dr. Kupers notes

117

Declaration of Prisoner 13, July 17, 2009, at ¶¶ 6-7.
ACLU Jails Project, JMET tour notes, July 11, 2007 (on file with the ACLU-SC).
119
Kupers Report, supra note 4, at 33-34. ―[A]disproportionate number of prisoners with serious
mental illness predictably wind up in punitive segregation.‖
118

35

this form of punishment is particularly dangerous to people with mental illness because the
isolation can lead to mental health deterioration and even suicide attempts.120
The apparent lack of appropriate mental health training for deputies at MCJ also
manifests itself in their mocking or ignoring prisoners‘ requests for psychiatric help. One
prisoner explains: ―The guards mock prisoners with mental health problems. I saw two inmates
complaining of mental health problems get beaten up and dragged out. The guards that did the
beating were at work the next day.‖121
Another prisoner describes a similar experience: ―The deputies ignore my mental health
conditions and it seems to me that they will not give me my medication until I seriously hurt
myself. When I was in psych review they made me live in a cell with my own excrements. The
mental health personnel treat me like they think I am joking about having mental health
issues.‖122
The widespread perception held by prisoners that deputies and other staff do not take
requests for mental health care seriously impedes the effectiveness of self reporting because
prisoners believe that requesting to see a psychiatrist is ineffective and will invite abuse. As Dr.
Kupers reports, ―Multiple prisoners have told me about abuses they have undergone or
witnessed, and most say it is disproportionately directed at prisoners with serious mental
illness.‖123 This is particularly problematic because the prisoners in MCJ are constantly locked in
their cells with little contact with anyone other than Sheriff‘s deputies. Thus, one of the most
common ways to access treatment is to request it from deputies.
120

Id. at 39. ―[T]here has been a substantial amount of research into the harmful effects of
isolated confinement, especially if the prisoner thus confined suffers from a serious mental
illness, or is vulnerable to mental illness.‖
121
Declaration of Prisoner 1, June 10, 2009, at ¶ 5.
122
Declaration of Prisoner 11, June 18, 2009, at ¶ 5.
123
Kupers Report, supra note 4, at 41.
36

E.

Recommendations

Over the last several years, both the LASD and DMH staff have been cooperative in
addressing the mental health needs of individual prisoners when we have brought these concerns
to their attention (for example, by sending mental health staff to speak with individual prisoners
who complain they are in distress and in need of mental health services). LASD has also added
175 mental health beds in the Twin Towers Correctional Facility (TTCF), the facility within the
L.A. County Jails system that Dr. Kupers notes is best-equipped for the treatment of mentally ill
prisoners. This expansion will allow more prisoners with severe mental illness to move from
MCJ to TTCF, where they can receive the continuous, intensive treatment they require. For those
prisoners with mental health needs that are not housed in Twin Towers, however, many systemic
issues with mental health care in MCJ remain to be addressed. Larger reforms are necessary for
MCJ to improve the treatment of prisoners with mental illnesses.
Because of overcrowding and understaffing, prisoners with serious mental illness housed
at MCJ lack access to adequate mental health treatment. The overcrowded and decrepit
conditions of the jail, the oldest facility in the Los Angeles County Jail System, exacerbate
mental illness in prisoners with who are mentally ill and often lead to prisoners who were
previously healthy displaying psychiatric symptoms. This, in turn, increases the level of chaos in
the jail and leads to the disproportionate victimization of prisoners with mental illness and to
excessive discipline being levied against prisoners for behavior consistent with the mental illness
that they otherwise cannot control.
These conditions are harmful to the prisoners of MCJ, the deputies who staff the jail, and
the communities that prisoners are sent back to when they are released, but by adopting the
recommendations set out below, recommendations which are cost-effective and which have been

37

proven in numerous other jurisdictions, many of these problems can be alleviated and significant
progress can be made. These reforms include:

•

LASD must reduce the population at MCJ to alleviate the overcrowding and toxic
living conditions that plague the facility and endanger mentally ill prisoners. The LASD
should also move prisoners with mental illness to other jail facilities (e.g. North County
Correctional Facility) where prisoners are not constantly locked down and where prisoners
have access to more programming options. Massive overcrowding in MCJ makes it extremely
difficult for mental health staff to diagnose and treat all prisoners in need of their services; it
makes the conditions severely noxious for anyone suffering from mental illness; and it increases
violence, suicide attempts and psychiatric breakdowns. This problem can be solved, in part, by
taking measures to reduce the prison population in MCJ by moving prisoners with mental illness
to other facilities within the Los Angeles County Jail System, particularly North County
Correctional Facility. This facility is newer than MCJ, less crowded, and offers more
programming options than can be offered at the crowded MCJ. It currently offers no mental
health treatment to prisoners; thus, all prisoners with mental illness are forced to remain in Twin
Towers or MCJ. However, mental health services can be expanded to cover the North County
facility so that the duty of providing mental health treatment to the thousands of mentally ill
prisoners within the Los Angeles County Jail System does not fall disproportionally on the
already overwhelmed mental health staff at MCJ.
LASD should ensure the continuity of care for prisoners in MCJ who have been
•
diagnosed as mentally ill before they were arrested by having them timely assessed by a
psychiatrist and continuing their confirmed medications until they are fully assessed. Given
the sheer number of prisoners who enter the Los Angeles County Jail system every year, it is
difficult to perform a complete and adequate screening for mental illness for every prisoner who
enters the system. However, LASD cannot disregard its obligation to treat its mentally ill
prisoners. It is critical that LASD ensures the continuity of care for newly admitted prisoners
who have previously been diagnosed and treated for mental illness. All newly admitted
prisoners must be adequately assessed at booking, and receive an initial mental health assessment
Any newly arrived prisoner with a mental health diagnosis on initial screen should be referred to
a provider, who should then assess and diagnose them. All prisoners who report current
medications should also be referred to a provider. Mental health staff should immediately get a
release allowing them access to the prisoner‘s medical records and confirm the prisoner‘s current
medications. Then the patient should be seen by a provider to ensure continuity of medications.
The medications should continue to be provided until the diagnosis and treatment history is
either denied or confirmed. The provider should document a rationale for any change in
diagnosis.
LASD should expand the accessibility of mental health care for prisoners at MCJ by
•
improving JMET walkthroughs, augmenting JMET walkthroughs with a reliable system
allowing prisoners to file written health care requests that can be assessed in a confidential
setting, and hiring an adequate number of mental health staff and psychiatrists for the
facility. Once a prisoner goes through initial classification and is deemed not to need mental
health treatment—regardless of whether that diagnosis is correct—it is very difficult for that

38

prisoner thereafter to access the mental health care system in MCJ. Cell-front interviews are
often ineffective for mental health screening because the lack of confidentiality significantly
deters prisoners from requesting help. Furthermore, because of the limited resources at their
disposal, the LASD and DMH lack the staff necessary to conduct a thorough follow-up
assessment of the thousands of prisoners who enter from the Los Angeles Jails System every
year. To ensure that prisoners missed by the initial screening are not deprived of mental health
care, more opportunities must be created within MCJ for prisoners to receive mental health
treatment by expanding JMET walkthroughs and augmenting these walkthroughs with a process
by which prisoners can file confidential written requests for medical assistance. These written
requests can then become part of a reliable system by which prisoners can be assessed by a
provider in a confidential setting without fear of being overheard by other prisoners or by
custody staff.

39

IV.

UNSAFE AND UNSANITARY FACILITIES AT MEN’S CENTRAL JAIL
“Conditions in the jail are awful. The jail is dirty. In my row the floor is littered with
trash such as socks, paper, and water from the showers. They don‟t clean the showers.
There is black mildew built up in the corners. The row is so dirty that we have a rodent
problem. Mice generally come out at night. Although 2100 has a bad rodent problem,
2900 (where I was housed before) has a rodent problem so bad that one time a mouse
fell on my face. When I was in 2900, I would see 1-2 mice running around my cell. In
2100, there is usually one mouse running around. There are also cockroaches. They
come from behind the sink and hide in the pipes on the bed frames. At night the
cockroaches come out.”124

Despite more than thirty years of joint efforts by the ACLU and the LASD to alleviate
overcrowding and improve conditions in the Los Angeles County jail system, MCJ remains
shockingly overcrowded, unsafe, and unsanitary. Although the Court has handed down multiple
orders over the years admonishing the Sheriff‘s Department to decrease overcrowding and
remedy physical conditions inside the jails, the Jails Project monitors still see countless problems
every time they enter MCJ. This section provides a glimpse into the unsafe and unsanitary
conditions that the Jails Project monitors have encountered over the past two years in MCJ and
offers recommendations on how to improve living conditions and programming in the jail.
A.

Problems with Spatial Density

“My cell is small and cramped and I have very limited movement. There
is no window and the lights are always dim. This makes it very hard to keep my
mood up . . . . I feel so claustrophobic in my cell that I usually stand up against
the bars to feel like I‟m in a wider space and breathe more easily. Sometimes I
stand at the bars for hours and hours without sitting down.”125
The national standards published by the American Correctional Association (ACA)
recommend that each prisoner should be provided a minimum of 35 square feet of
124
125

Declaration of Prisoner 14, July 9, 2009, at ¶ 3.
Declaration of Prisoner 16, July 15, 2008, at ¶¶ 1, 3.
40

―unencumbered space‖ (space not occupied by furniture).126 The ACA further recommends that
prisoners who spend more than ten hours per day locked in their cells or dormitories should have
at least 70 square feet of total floor space per person.127 The spatial density at MCJ—the space
provided per prisoner in a room or area—falls shockingly short of these nationally recognized
standards.128
In June 2008, Dr. Kupers concluded that ―the cells and dormitories [throughout the jail]
violate minimum standards in terms of . . . spatial density.‖129 Since then, the LASD has taken
steps to ease overcrowding by reducing the capacity of the old six-men and four-men cells to
four-men and two-men, respectively. Even with such changes, however, Dr. Kupers‘ 2008
conclusion that the LASD is violating the ACA standards still holds true today. In every cell and
dormitory in MCJ, prisoners are crammed into tight quarters, with very little space of their own,
as the following table illustrates.

Cell Dimension
Square Footage
Encumbered Space
Unencumbered
Space (Total)
Unencumbered
Space Per Prisoner
ACA
Recommendation
for Unencumbered
Space Per Prisoner

1-Man Cells (1700
B)
4.5‘ x 9.5‘
42.75 sq. feet
15.83 sq. feet
26.92 sq. feet

2-Man Cells (2400
C)
9‘ x 9‘
81 sq. feet
15.83 sq. feet
65.17 sq. feet

4-Man Cells (2200
A)
13‘ x 9‘
117 sq. feet
31.66 sq. feet
85.34 sq. feet

26.92 sq. feet

32.56 sq. feet

21.34 sq. feet

35 sq. feet

35 sq. feet

35 sq. feet

126

See ACA Standards for Adult Local Detention Facilities, 3rd Edition, Supplement 2006.
127
Id.; see also Kupers Report, supra note 4, at 10-15. Dr. Kupers notes that the ACA‘s shifting
space recommendations are premised on the fact ―that if an individual is confined in a very small
space the negative effects can be somewhat ameliorated by the time spent outside the space.‖
128
While it is important to remember that these figures do not establish the constitutional
minimum requirements for the amount of space allotted to prisoners, they do provide a good
starting point for defining impermissible ―overcrowding.‖
129
Kupers‘ Report, supra note 4, at 14.
41

Similar overcrowding occurs in the jail‘s numerous dormitories, as well. The California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation‘s Corrections Standards Authority (CSA)
establishes a rated capacity for every jail facility or prison in the state of California. The rated
capacity refers to the number of occupants for which a facility, or a particular part of a facility
(i.e. a dormitory or cell), was planned and designed in conformity with the standards and
requirements of Title 15 and Title 24.130 The CSA‘s rated capacity for the dormitories at MCJ
ranges from 62-80 occupants, depending on the particular dorm;131 the actual number of beds in
the dormitories at MCJ, however, ranges from 110 in the least occupied dorm, to 160 in the most
highly occupied dorm, almost twice the rated capacity of 64 and 87, respectively. Even when, as
has occurred in the past, the LASD can reduce the number of prisoners in the dorms so that 10,
or even 20, beds are empty, the problem of overcrowding is not substantially alleviated because
the empty bunks continue to encumber the living space of the remaining prisoners.
This data illustrates, objectively, the severe overcrowding that occurs in MCJ. What this
data cannot illustrate, however, are the devastating, subjectively experienced effects of crowding
prisoners into such small cells and dormitories. Research indicates that overcrowding leads to
―increased rates of violence, psychiatric breakdown and suicide in correctional facilities,‖132 as

130

15 Cal. Code Reg. ¶ 1006.
Letter from Magi Work, Field Representative, Facilities Standards and Operations Division,
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Corrections Standards Authority, to
Sheriff Leroy D. Baca (September 25, 2009) (on file with the ACLU-SC).
132
Id. at 6. See also id. at 7 (―With tough men crowded into small spaces and forced to lie on
their bunks . . . altercations are practically inevitable.‖); 7-8 (―Others retreat into their bunks
where they remain all day. If they are prone to depression, the self-imposed isolation with the
crowded space worsens their condition and leads to thoughts of self-harm.‖); 16 (stating the
conditions at MCJ are ―a combination of toxic conditions that [are] guaranteed to predictably
increase the prevalence of violence, psychiatric breakdown and self-harm‖).
131

42

well as illness complaints, disciplinary infractions, and recidivism.133 The prisoners at MCJ
endure the effects of this crowding daily. One prisoner explained, ―The dorm I lived in was
overcrowded. At a population of 100 we were fine, but when we were at capacity, 140 people, it
would be really hot. We‘d have no ventilation and that caused staph infections to proliferate
throughout the dorm. . . . Fights would take place frequently []. There are a lot of hidden corners
of the dorm, completely out of view of what we called the bubble, also known as that place
where deputies were able to supervise us from. In these hidden corners we had organized fights. .
. . This would take place out of the view of the deputies.‖134
The one-man cells, used to segregate prisoners as punishment or for their own protection
(such as when an inmate requires protective custody), are so small that a prisoner standing with
his arms outstretched can easily touch both walls at once.135 In the four-man cells, it is difficult
for more than a couple of men to be out of their bunks at the same time without bumping into
each other.136 In the dormitories that contain upwards of 230 prisoners, the tiered bunk beds are
stacked so closely together that there is barely room to move between the rows of beds, and the
heads of one row of beds are usually touching the feet of the next row of beds so that there is
133

Craig Haney, The Wages of Prison Overcrowding: Harmful Psychological Consequences and
Dysfunctional Correctional Reactions, 22 WASH. U.J.L. & POL‘Y 265 (2006).
134
Declaration of Prisoner 20, October 20, 2009, at ¶¶ 7-8. See also declaration of Prisoner 30,
October 14, 2009, at ¶ 10 (―The dormitory I was housed in was filled with about 150 men. . . .
There was a lot of tension in that giant dorm.‖).
135
See e.g,, declarations of Prisoner 16, July 15, 2008, at ¶¶1-3, 5 (―The only furniture in my cell
is a stool and a bunk, but since the cell is so small, I have to squeeze by the stool to get to the
toilet and stand on top of the stool to get to my bunk. I feel so claustrophobic in my cell . . . .I
eat all my meals in [] either sitting on my bed or on a stool. I haven‘t sat down at a table to eat in
eight years.‖); Prisoner 31, July 23, 2009, at ¶ 3 (―My cell is very small. I can take about five
steps from the bars in front to the toilet and sink in the back. I can take about two steps from the
bottom of the bed to the wall on the side because the width of the cell is much smaller than the
length. My cell has a bed, a toilet, and a sink but not desk or chair. The only places I can sit all
day are the bed or the toilet.‖).
136
See e.g., declaration of Prisoner 21, July 10, 2009, at ¶ 3 (―There is no room to walk around
and there are no tables or seats, so you can either walk from your bed to the sink and back or just
sit in bed.‖).
43

only open space on two sides of each bunk row. As a result, often the only available way that
prisoners have to get to their beds is by jumping over the head or foot of the bed or jumping over
another prisoner.
The prisoners in dormitories spend nearly all of their time on their beds because there are
no tables and chairs. Even though the ACA recommends that prisons provide one toilet and one
washbasin for every 12 prisoners,137 overcrowding in the dorms often cause the jail to exceed the
one-to-twelve ratio. One prisoner reports: ―There are no tables to eat meals. I have to eat in my
bed, at the same place I sleep at night . . . . There are only 5 toilets and 5 sinks for the 120 people
in my dorm. The ventilation is very poor and there is very little space for the 120 people. All of
the beds are pushed very close together. It is so cramped that illnesses spread really quickly.‖138
Similarly, overcrowding has negative effects on the jail staff‘s ability to carry out their
custodial duties, as overcrowding makes it more difficult for staff to carry out their duties for
such large numbers of prisoners. In overcrowded conditions, jail staff cannot provide adequate
attention to prisoners to ensure that they receive medical and mental health attention; frequent
showers; changes of clothing; and other services; or that plumbing and other physical plant
problems are identified and repaired. Moreover, as Dr. Kupers notes, jail staff ―become
increasingly insensitive to [prisoners‘] concerns when they have to interact with masses of
[prisoners] each day.‖139 Thus, overcrowding can easily be identified as a direct cause of many
of the problems with the jail conditions identified in this report.

137

See AMERICAN CORRECTIONAL ASSOCIATION, PERFORMANCE-BASED STANDARDS FOR ADULT
LOCAL DETENTION FACILITIES (4th ed. 2004).
138
Declaration of Prisoner 1, June 29, 2009, at ¶ 7.
139
Kupers Report, supra note 4, at 16.
44

B.

Poor Living Conditions at MCJ are Exacerbated by Overcrowding

The living conditions within MCJ are hazardous and unsanitary. Prisoners at MCJ are
housed in cramped cells or dorms. The cells and dorms are often filthy. It is not uncommon for
prisoners to report clogged toilets leaking waste water onto floors, rotting fruit and other trash on
the floors of the hallways; or rats and vermin scurrying around their cells.140 The shower areas
are also filthy and moldy. Cells and dorms are windowless, and are plagued with poor
ventilation and extreme temperatures.141 These unsanitary and overcrowded conditions are of
particular concern due to the risk of communicable diseases, such as staph infections, in the jail.
Many of the problems with the living conditions at MCJ are caused and exacerbated by
overcrowding. In some units, two or three deputies are responsible for a housing area of 250 to
500 prisoners. High prisoner-to-staff ratios make it difficult and sometimes impossible for
deputies to carry out their duties, such as providing prisoners access to showers, handling
clothing exchange, and distributing meals. Deputies often must carry out multiple orders at the
same time, causing them to discontinue one activity to begin another. Prisoners‘ shower times
might be cut short so the deputy can supervise laundry exchange, which then may be
discontinued so the deputy can escort nursing staff during pill call. Thus, it is easy to see how, as
a result of overcrowding and high prisoner-to-staff ratios, deputies may not be able to complete
their duties and meet the legal requirements of providing sanitary living conditions, showers, and
140

See, e.g., Declarations of Prisoner 9, June 24, 2009, at ¶ 5 (blood and feces on the walls in
cells in mental health housing); Prisoner 5, June 22, 2009, at ¶ 9 (food trays were filthy, cells
flooded with water); Prisoner 14, July 09, 2009, at ¶¶3-4 (infestation of mice in every module,
also roaches, toilets backed up, overflowing); Prisoner 15, July 09, 2009, at ¶¶ 3-4 (vermin
because everyone must eat in their cells, no cleaning supplies); Prisoner 16, July 15, 2008, at ¶6
(floor smells, roaches).
141
For instance, on April 29, 2009, the ACLU visited Dorm 8030 in MCJ to investigate a
complaint received from a prisoner on April 9, 2009, that the dorm was extremely hot with no
noticeable moving air. Twenty days after the initial complaint, there was still no change. The
ACLU complained that with approximately 60 men housed in this dorm, the high temperatures,
mixed with the lack of moving air, is of great concern.
45

clothing exchange to prisoners, despite the deputies‘ bests efforts. The following sections outline
in more detail specific problems with conditions in MCJ.
1.

Unsanitary Living Conditions

“The conditions I live in at jail are gross. The deputies don‟t give us
cleaning supplies. Instead, we have to use the small bar of soap that we also
use to wash ourselves [to clean the dorm] . . . .The showers in my dorm are
moldy and gross. There is black stuff on the bottom of the shower and I really
don‟t like to touch it . . . .I have seen roaches on the floor. This is gross. It‟s so
dirty in here and I don‟t want to touch anything. It makes me all clenched
up.”142
Although the courts have been clear that prisoners should not be forced to live in
disgusting and degrading conditions that may contribute to the spread infectious diseases, the
Jails Project monitors continue to see unsanitary conditions at MCJ day after day, year after year.
Prisoners regularly complain to both jail staff and the Jails Project monitors about the unsanitary
conditions in their cells, dorms, and showers. These complaints paint a bleak picture of the
living conditions in MCJ. One prisoner remembered being placed in a cell that obviously had
not been cleaned before his arrival, as he noted there were blood and feces on the walls.143 Other
prisoners report sleeping on mattresses that are coated in a thick layer of dust, living in cells
where rats and roaches scurry around at night, and walking around piles of rotting fruit and other
trash on the floors of the hallways.144 The showers are similarly filthy, with clogged drains,

142

Declaration of Prisoner 15, July 9, 2009, at ¶¶ 3-7.
Declaration of Prisoner 9, June 24, 2009, at ¶ 5 (―[T]here were feces and blood on the walls.
It seemed like it was 1492.‖).
144
See, e.g., declaration of Prisoner 17, July 09, 2009, at ¶ 6 (―There are frequently mice running
around . . . I had to block the bottom of my door prevent the mice from coming in.‖). See also
declarations of Prisoner 9, June 24, 2009, at ¶ 5 (blood and feces on the walls in cells in mental
health housing); Prisoner 5, June 22, 2009, at ¶ 9 (food trays were filthy, cells flooded with
water); Prisoner 14, July 09, 2009, at ¶¶3-4 (infestation of mice in every module, also roaches,
toilets backed up, overflowing); Prisoner 15, July 09. 2009, at ¶¶ 3-4 (vermin because everyone
must eat in their cells, no cleaning supplies); Prisoner 16, July 15, 2008, at ¶6 (floor smells,
roaches).
143

46

floors blackened by visible mold, and dirty plastic sheets sometimes used as shower curtains.145
The Jails Project monitors have corroborated these prisoner reports during their walkthroughs at
MCJ.
These unsanitary conditions are exacerbated by the overcrowding at MCJ. One prisoner
described his experience: ―The dorm I lived in was overcrowded. At a population of 100 we
were fine, but when we were at capacity, 140 people, it would be really hot [and] we‘d have no
ventilation . . . . Someone would develop a staph infection every two or three weeks. Most staph
cases were from people coming into the dorm with it. Mats were never cleaned and the person
who slept there before might have had staph.‖146
Although jail policy dictates that prisoners will be provided cleaning supplies if they
request them, prisoners regularly report to the Jails Project that deputies refuse to give out
cleaning supplies, even after multiple requests. For instance, one prisoner reports, ―We are
responsible for cleaning our own cells but they don‘t give us supplies to clean. Instead we have
to ask trustees to give us soap and we keep our old towels and use them to clean up. I‘m worried
about the cleanliness because one of my cellmates has a staph infection on his leg.‖147
As a result, prisoners are forced to try and clean their cells in any way that they can. For
example, one prisoner reports having to use the same bar of soap he uses in the shower to clean
his body with to also clean his cell because jail staff failed to give him any other cleaning
145

See, e.g., declarations of Prisoner 18, July 09, 2009, at ¶ 3 (―The showers are really dirty; I
can see mold growing on them. I have to be really careful what I touch, because the showers are
rarely cleaned. I cleaned the showers myself last time, and between cleanings it is usually a
couple of months. I am worried about catching staph infections, because many prisoners have
them.‖); Prisoner 15, July 09, 2009, at ¶4 (mold in showers); Prisoner 1, June 29, 2009, at ¶7
(showers are ―very dirty‖ and ―don‘t get disinfected,‖ get showers once every 3 days); Prisoner
19, June 18, 2009, at ¶ 9 (showers are ―dirty and crowded,‖ also dangerous ―because there is so
much agitation because of the long lines and people get violent‖ while waiting for the shower);
Prisoner 7, June 25, 2009, at ¶ 5 (no cleaning supplies).
146
Declaration of Prisoner 20, October 20, 2009, at ¶ 7.
147
Declaration of Prisoner 21, July 19, 2009, at ¶ 5.
47

supplies or disinfectant.148 Other prisoners report that they wish the jail commissary sold
cleaning supplies because they would be willing to spend their own money to make their spaces
more sanitary and livable.
2.

Plumbing Problems

“On my row there are also plumbing problems. The toilets are plugged
up. The water overflows. There are holes [in the toilet] . . . where the water is
supposed to drain out. It doesn‟t work well and makes the floor dirty. Since
I‟ve been here I haven‟t seen anyone clean the drain holes on the tiers.”149
Plumbing leakages and stoppages are common in the jails. Prisoners report plumbing
problems to the Jails Project on a nearly daily basis. Many prisoners, for example, report being
forced to shower in standing water as the grates that block the drains are often clogged.150 One
noted, ―When they do offer us showers I choose not to go because . . . I saw the shower was
flooded and I was worried about getting infections in my feet.‖151 Numerous other prisoners
have echoed these complaints.152 One prisoner offers a vivid description, ―Before we even enter
the shower room, it‘s already flooded, with pubic hair floating around. Dirty water covers my
entire foot and I can see mold all over the place. I‘m better off taking a shower in my cell using
the sink.‖153 Another prisoner reported observing various cells flooding every day during his stay

148

Declaration of Prisoner 7, June 25, 2009, at ¶ 5. See also declaration of Prisoner 22, July 16,
2009, at ¶ 6 (―The row is very dirty. All I have to clean my cell is the half bar of hand soap I‘m
given to wash up in the sink. The tier is never mopped and only swept a couple of times.‖).
149
Declaration of Prisoner 14, July 9, 2009, at ¶ 4.
150
ACLU Findings for week of March 23-April 3, 2009, reported by M. Bird, M. Tiedeman, and
T. Weddle to the Commanders on April 28, 2009.
151
Declaration of Prisoner 21, July 10, 2009, ¶ at 4.
152
See, e.g., declaration of Prisoner 23, June 18, 2009, at ¶ 5 (jails showers are filthy, forced to
shower in standing water due to clogged shower drain).
153
Declaration of Prisoner 24, October 13, 2009, ¶ at 3.
48

at MCJ.154 Due to the frequent clogs and overflows, many dormitories reek of stale urine and
feces, making the crowded quarters even more uncomfortable.155
Prisoners often do not receive mops and other cleaning supplies in a timely manner when
toilets start overflowing. Prisoners sometimes have to use their towels and bedding to try and
stay the flow of the leaking water. For example, on April 29, 2009, prisoners on 3500-D at MCJ
reported that three cells had been flooded with raw sewage.156 The prisoners occupying the cells
were not moved, despite the flooding. For four days, the prisoners were forced either to stay on
top of their bunks to avoid getting wet, or walk through the sewage to use the bathroom, stretch
their legs, or get food. Although the plumbing had been fixed by the time the Jails Project
monitors arrived, the cells had yet to be cleaned and the trustees were called to clean the cells
only after the monitors complained.
When prisoners complain about plumbing problems during ACLU walk-throughs, the
Jails Project monitors immediately alert the deputies staffing the unit of where the problem
occurred and send a written request to LASD facilities management. Facilities management
requests normally receive faster resolution than other complaints filed by the Jails Project on
behalf of prisoners, yet much work remains to be done in this area to ensure that plumbing
problems do not jeopardize the health and safety of the men at MCJ in the future.
3.

Lack of Access to Showers

“It‟s very easy to go over a week with no shower in here . . . . It seems
like they just don‟t have enough deputies to get all these prisoners the showers
we need to avoid Staph [infections] . . . . If they won‟t let me out to take a
154

Declaration of Prisoner 5, June 22, 2009, at ¶ 9 (―The conditions in the jail are not good . . . .
The cells have been flooding every day.‖).
155
Declaration of M. Tiedeman, July 13, 2009, at ¶7 (―I have been in those dorms when the
toilets are so clogged up that the entire dorm reeks of stale urine and feces. The air is extremely
stagnant and the entire room feels extremely claustrophobic.‖).
156
ACLU Findings for the Weeks of April 27-May 15, 2009, sent by M. Bird, M. Tiedeman, and
T. Weddle to Commanders on May 27, 2009 (on file with the ACLU-SC).
49

shower for a while, I take a „bird bath.‟ That‟s when I stand in front of my sink
and splash water all over my body. I use the splashed water to wash the floor of
my cell too. But nothing seems to be working. I feel like I‟m stuck in an
environment where it‟s impossible to keep clean.”157
Prisoners repeatedly complain to the Jails Project monitors that they do not receive
showers regularly, often reporting that they have not received showers in a week or more.158
When interviewed by the monitors, many prisoners smell bad and have matted hair despite their
best efforts to clean themselves using hand soap and water from their sinks.159 Infrequent access
to showers is a particularly problematic result of overcrowding, as it can lead to the spread of
dangerous communicable diseases and infections in the jails.
The LASD is bound by Title 15 of the California Code of Regulation.160 Under Title 15,
prisoners are entitled to have access to showers ―at least every other day or more often if
possible.‖161 The Department has gone even further, requiring that prisoners be given daily
access to showers162 in order to stop the spread of infections through the Jail, including
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (―MRSA‖), a potentially fatal pathogen that kills
more people per year than AIDS.163 However, prisoners often report that they either do not
157

Declaration of Prisoner 25, June 23, 2008, at ¶¶ 6, 9.
See, e.g., declarations of Prisoner 26, July 01, 2009, at ¶¶ 3-4 (―I get a shower every three
days. I get pretty dirty in that three days. The deputies give us showers when they feel like it.
When we are on lockdown, it takes a week to get a shower, so I have to wash myself in the
sink.‖); Prisoner 27, July 01, 2009, at ¶ 3 (―I usually get a shower once a week or whenever the
guards feel like it‖); M. Tiedeman, July 13, 2009, at ¶ 11 (frequently, prisoners do not get the
required shower schedule, which is every other day, or every day for prisoners with drugresistant staph infection, or MRSA).
159
Declaration of M. Tiedeman, July 13, 2009, at ¶11.
160
15 Cal. Code of Reg. §§ 1004-1282 (minimum standards for local detention facilities).
161
Id. at § 1266.
162
Letter from Sheriff Baca to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, dated September
1, 2004, regarding a ―Response to Issues Related to MRSA.‖ The document is available at:
http://file.lacounty.gov/bc/q3_2004/cms1_021695.htm#P-6_0 (last visited July 13, 2009). The
letter notes that ―the availability of daily showers for all prisoners‖ was a corrective action taken
by the Sheriff‘s Department to address the ongoing MRSA outbreak.
163
Maryn McKenna, Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA, (Free Press 2010) at 47.
158

50

receive showers regularly or are rushed in and out of showers so quickly that they do not get
enough time to clean themselves thoroughly. This problem is compounded by many prisoners‘
only being offered time to shower at the same time they are offered the use of a telephone.
Prisoners therefore often have to decide whether they want to use their few minutes in the
shower room to wash, or attempt to make a phone call to their loved ones.164

One prisoner

describes his experience: ―It‘s very easy to go over a week with no shower in here because if [the
deputies] skip your [shower] day for some reason, you go four days without a shower. If they
skip it again, it‘s been six days.‖165 Another prisoner describes a similar experience:
Nobody gets a shower on days that we have court. We also don‘t get showers if
the deputies decide to search our cells during shower time. We miss showers all
the time. At the end of June 2008, I did not shower for five days. I showered on
June 16th, and I was supposed to shower again June 18th. Since I had court on
June 18th, I missed my shower for another two days. Then on my fourth day
without a shower, the deputies decided to do a cell search at 6:30 A.M., so I didn‘t
get a shower that day either. The fifth day without a shower was a scheduled noshower day for me. So even though I had missed my last few showers, I had to
wait . . . .166
Prisoners tell us that when they are taken to the shower, they often do not receive enough
time to shower thoroughly. One prisoner noted that he was only given one minute to shower
every two to three days.167 Other prisoners report that deputies cram 15-30 people into the
shower room with two bars of soap, then shut the water off after a few minutes, even if some of
164

Declaration of Prisoner 16, July 15, 2008, at ¶¶ 18-19, 23 (―I am supposed to get a shower
every other day for 15 minutes, but this does not always happen . . . .I literally have to stand in
the shower and choose whether I am going to wash or make a phone call . . . . I try to wash as
much as I can in 5 minutes. Then I try to use the rest of the time to talk on the phone and hope
that the deputy won‘t cut me off.‖).
165
Declaration of Prisoner 25, June 23, 2008, at ¶¶ 5-6, 9 (―At the time, it was very hard for me
to keep myself clean to prevent the [staph] infection from coming back. I was housed in 3100
and we would often go over a week without a shower . . . . It‘s especially hard to get showers for
guys in the one-man cells because they have to take us out one at a time. It seems like they just
don‘t have enough deputies to get all these prisoners the showers we need to avoid Staph . . . .I
try my best to keep my cell clean. I wipe down the bars of my cell.‖).
166
Declaration of Prisoner 16, July 15, 2008, at ¶¶ 18-19.
167
Declaration of Prisoner 28, June 29, 2009, at ¶ 6.
51

the prisoners did not get under the shower head and others did not rinse off the soap. For
example, one prisoner reports, ―There are usually 10-18 people in the shower at one time. . . .
Only one shower head works. We have to rotate so one prisoner only gets a few seconds in the
shower head that works. The bottom of the shower, from 8 to 12 inches from the floor had a
black fungus that ringed around the shower.‖168 Between showers, prisoners often attempt to
give themselves ―bird baths‖ by splashing water on themselves from the sinks in their cells,
lathering up with their hand soap, and then waiting to dry.169
The LASD also fails to keep accurate documentation on prisoners‘ access to showers.
When prisoners complain about problems getting showers, the Jails Project monitors check the
Uniform Daily Activity Log (UDAL) where deputies are required to document many of the
activities that occur in the unit, such as how often prisoners shower or receive mail. The monitors
have frequently found that the information in these logs is questionable or inaccurate. For
example, entire rows of men and other jail staff will report that the rows are not receiving
showers, but the log will indicate that showers have been offered every day. The monitors have
also found that staff have sometimes pre-logged activities in the UDAL as having happened at
future dates and times.
4.

Linen Exchange

“I only get my clothing exchanged one time every week. That means I
wear the same undershirt, underwear, and outer shirt all week. I wash my
clothes in the sink with that same bar of soap [that I use to wash myself]. Also,
when the clothes are given to me, they have brown stains on them so I don‟t
think they are even clean. The underwear and towels are especially bad. The
outer clothes are probably stained too, but since the material is brown anyway, I
can‟t really tell.”170

168

Declaration of Prisoner 29, July 16, 2009, ¶ 2.
See, e.g., declaration of Prisoner 25, June 23, 2008, at ¶¶ 5-6, 9.
170
Declaration of Prisoner 15, July 9, 2009, at ¶ 4.
169

52

Under Rutherford, prisoners are supposed to receive a change of clothing in exchange for
the clothing they had been wearing at least twice per week.171 This change of clothing is
supposed to include clean outer garments, undergarments, socks, and a towel at least once per
week. Under Title 15 of the California Code, prisoners are supposed to receive a change of
outergarments at least once per week and a change of undergarments at least twice per week.172
However, it appears this regular exchange of clothing often does not occur at MCJ. Prisoners
frequently complain to the Jails Project monitors that they do not receive regular changes of
clothing and sometimes have to wear dirty clothing for extended periods of time.
Prisoners also complain that the clothing handed out during linen exchange is stained and
dirty. For instance, one prisoner noted, ―Over the last month, I also noticed that the laundry I‘ve
been getting seems dirty—like they didn‘t wash it. Now I‘ve got Staph again and I think it‘s
because of the dirty blankets and laundry.‖173
As a result of the irregular clothing exchanges and the dirty clothing provided during
clothing exchange, prisoners regularly report that they resort to cleaning their clothing in their
sinks with hand soap. ―I wash my clothes in the sink,‖ one prisoner reports, ―and I know it takes
a whole day for those to dry.‖174 Such reports are not isolated examples. Prisoners complain
about irregular clothing exchange, the provision of stained garments, and the need to wash
clothing in sinks to the Jails Project monitors every week.
Prisoners similarly report that the type of clothing and linen provided is inappropriate
given the extreme temperatures in the jail. The Jails Project monitors report that there is clearly
a problem at MCJ with the regulation of temperatures in the cellblocks and dorms. When the
171

Rutherford, 457 F. Supp. at 116-17.
15 Cal. Code of Reg., § 1262 (―[O]utergarments . . . shall be exchanged at least once each
week. Undergarments and socks shall be exchanged twice each week.‖).
173
Declaration of Prisoner 25, June 28, 2008, at ¶ 11.
174
Declaration of Prisoner 16, July 15, 2008, at ¶ 11.
172

53

jails monitors walk through cellblocks and dormitories in MCJ, they often report that the
temperatures are extremely hot and muggy or extremely cold. To combat the cold, many
prisoners knowingly risk punishment for possession of contraband by using the dirty blankets
left over when another prisoner leaves the cell or dorm.
C.

Recommendations

•

The LASD needs to substantially depopulate the prisoner population in MCJ in order
to allow more effective management of programming in the jail. The LASD needs to
combat the rampant overcrowding at MCJ by decreasing the prisoner population and relying
on cost-effective, low-risk alternatives to incarceration for pre-trial detainees such as
electronic monitoring, supported housing, and drug and mental-health treatment programs.
These measures would lower the prisoner-to-staff ratio, allowing the LASD to more
effectively manage the programming at MCJ, and would have the effect of improving the
delivery of programming and services to prisoners—including access to showers, and
delivery of clothing exchange—thus improving the overall sanitary conditions in the jail.

•

The LASD needs to ensure that the jails are sanitary by establishing a protocol for
regular cleaning. Cells should be fully cleaned before new prisoners arrive. Jail staff
should inform prisoners that they have a right to obtain materials needed to clean their cells
and dormitories, as well as hygiene items they need to maintain personal cleanliness. The
distribution of cleaning and hygiene supplies should be logged by deputies and countersigned
by prisoners. Hallways and shower rooms should be regularly cleaned, including the drains,
so that trash and water do not accumulate and establish a breeding ground for mold and
vermin. All cleaning should be logged in the UDAL by deputies and this practice reviewed
by shift commanders to safeguard against false reporting.

•

The LASD needs to ensure that prisoners receive regular showers. Prisoners need to
receive regular showers for a full 15 minutes. When prisoners miss the normal scheduled
shower time due to a court appearance, attorney visit, cell search, or for any other reason, the
LASD needs to ensure that the prisoners receive off-schedule showers to make up for the one
that was missed. All showers should be logged in the UDAL electronically by scanning the
wristbands of all prisoners when they are offered a shower. This practice would safeguard
against false reporting.

•

The LASD needs to ensure that prisoners receive changes of clean clothing and bed
linens regularly. Prisoners need to receive changes of clean clothing at least twice per
week, and new bed linens at least once per week. LASD needs to ensure that prisoners
receive changes of clothing or bed linens off-schedule if this is necessary to ensure that they
do not have soiled clothing or bedding. All clothing exchanges should be logged in the
UDAL electronically by scanning the wristbands of prisoners when they receive clean
clothing.

54

V.

DISCIPLINE AT MEN’S CENTRAL JAIL
A.

LASD Disciplinary Policy and Actual Practice
1.

Disciplinary Policy

Under the LASD disciplinary policy, when a prisoner is involved in an incident rising to
the level of a violation of jail rules, the deputy responding to the incident must fill out a report
documenting the incident.175 Once a sergeant approves the report, a copy is given to the accused
prisoner. According to the LASD disciplinary policy, the accused prisoner is then taken to predisciplinary housing. Within 72 hours, the prisoner should have a hearing with the Disciplinary
Review Board (―DRB‖ a.k.a. ―Sergeant‘s Court‖) where a sergeant reviews the charges and
either approves or rejects them. According to LASD policy, if a prisoner is not taken before the
Sergeant‘s Court within 72 hours of the initial incident, the prisoner cannot be put on
discipline.176
At his hearing, the prisoner is entitled to speak freely regarding the alleged incident. If
the sergeant approves discipline, the prisoner is moved to a disciplinary housing unit for however
long the Sergeant deems appropriate. The prisoner must receive a copy of the disciplinary
sentence in writing.177 After 30 days, the sergeant should review the prisoner‘s disciplinary
sentence and should continue to review it every 15 days thereafter.
2.

Defective Procedures

In our monitoring of the conditions at MCJ we have found that the LASD follows the
disciplinary policy haphazardly. The DRB, or Sergeant‘s Court, is usually little more than a

175

Los Angeles County Sheriff‘s Department, Custody Division Men‘s Central Jail, Unit Order:
5-22-000, Subject: Inmate Discipline [hereinafter Inmate Discipline], at Section IV (on file with
the ACLU-SC).
176
Attached to this report in Appendix A are examples of a notice of violation and a notice of
action. Attached at Appendix B is a copy of the current disciplinary policy for MCJ.
177
Inmate Discipline, supra note 175, at Section IV.
55

quick interview—if that—by a sergeant with the prisoner in his cell. Prisoners have very little or
no opportunity to speak on their own behalf, and are rarely informed of this right. The DRBs
have often rubber stamped disciplinary charges without proper consideration of the evidence. For
example, our monitors witnessed one incident in January of 2009 when a prisoner was given a
notice of violation for his failure to stop using the bathroom immediately when deputies in his
dorm began to count.178 The prisoner reported that he had a bladder problem that made him
urinate frequently. The Sergeant conducting the DRB noted that nursing personnel confirmed
that the prisoner had signed up for Nurse Clinic and was seen by a nurse for a urination problem.
Yet, despite this clear evidence of his medical condition, the jail concluded that the prisoner did
not have any urinary tract issues and sentenced him to 20 days in solitary confinement.179
We also routinely hear complaints from prisoners that jail staff fail to inform prisoners of
the basis of the charges against them or, in many cases, fail to provide them with written notice
of their charges. While the Sheriff‘s staff expends time preparing detailed narratives explaining
the factual basis for the discipline, they often do not provide a copy of this report to the prisoner.
Furthermore, we have witnessed serious problems with deputies‘ imposing collective
punishment on groups of prisoners for acts that only one or two of them have allegedly
committed. For example, one prisoner reported an instance when a deputy turned off the phones
for an entire row because one prisoner was ―being smart‖ with a nurse.180 The prisoner explained
that this kind of group punishment is common on that particular row: ―[I]f someone messes up,
everyone has to pay. If someone talks during count or misses pill call, the deputies punish us by

178

ACLU Findings for the Dates of January 12-January 23, 2009, sent by M. Bird, M. Tiedeman,
and T. Weddle to LASD Commanders.
179
Id.
180
Declaration of Prisoner 24, October 13, 2009, at ¶ 5.
56

turning off the phones for the whole row.‖181 Another prisoner reported a similar experience on
the row where he was housed: ―When one prisoner messes up, whether it be something minor, or
something major like a fight, we all get punished, the whole row. This is the deputies‘ way to
build tension between all of us. They want us to police ourselves so they don‘t have to. For
example, if one guy does something wrong, instead of following protocol by writing the guy up
or putting him in the hole, we would all get punished.‖182
While MCJ officially has changed its policy on collective punishment to prohibit the
practice of disciplining whole rows of cells for acts only a few prisoners committed, our jails
monitors continue to uncover ongoing problems. The monitors have, on numerous occasions,
witnessed deputies threaten entire rows of prisoners to restrict phone privileges, out-of-cell time,
and shower time because one prisoner refuses to follow orders. And, in our experience, these are
not empty threats. For example, in April, 2009, jail staff gave all the prisoners on a 20-person
row 10 days of lockdown for an incident involving three individual prisoners.183 After our
advocacy, the jail rescinded the lockdown, but the incident demonstrates a continuing need for
ongoing monitoring to ensure that the deputies abide by the policy forbidding collective
punishment.
These instances of group discipline or discipline without adequate individualized notice
or adequate opportunity to appeal the charges are very problematic for prisoners whose
disciplinary records are later used against them when they apply for parole or are sentenced for
their crimes. Parole officers reviewing applications look to jail disciplinary records to determine
181

Id.
Declaration of Prisoner 40, October 7, 2009, at ¶ 6; see also declaration of Prisoner 29, July
16, 2009, at ¶ 7 (reporting that ―[c]ommon punishment is turning off the phones or not passing
out the mail.‖).
183
ACLU Findings for the Weeks of April 6-April 17, 2009, sent by M. Bird, M. Tiedeman, and
T. Weddle to Commanders on April 29, 2009.
182

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whether a prisoner is eligible for parole based on good behavior. Likewise, judges issuing
sentences for prisoners look to disciplinary records in assessing whether a prisoner poses a
danger to the community and therefore deserves a harsher sentence.
B.

Disciplinary Segregation
1.

Solitary Confinement

The disciplinary segregation cells at MCJ present some of the harshest living conditions
for prisoners of any area in the jail. These cells are extraordinarily small and some have a closed
or solid front, making communication with deputies, nurses, and mental health professionals all
but impossible. The high security discipline cells are five feet in width and nine and a half feet
in length, with 47.5 square feet of floor area. The regular discipline cells are even smaller, nine
feet and seven inches in length and four feet in width, with 38.8 square feet of floor area. Each
cell includes a washbasin and a toilet, to minimize the prisoner‘s movement out of the cell,
making usable floor space much smaller than the noted square footage. The cells have poor
lighting, making reading difficult, and prisoners are only allowed one Bible and legal papers;
they are not allowed any other reading material. Furthermore, prisoners in disciplinary
segregation are confined to their cells 24 hours a day, 7 days a week—they do not receive any
outdoor recreation or time outside their cell except for showers every other day.184
These conditions result in extreme isolation and sensory deprivation. While the
conditions of disciplinary segregation are, in part, intended to be punitive, these extreme
deprivations of basic human needs are cruel and unnecessary and, as discussed below, especially
problematic for prisoners with mental disabilities.

184

However, as discussed in Section IV.B.3, supra, relying on deputies to provide access to
showers is a persistent problem at MCJ. The Jails project regularly receives complaints from
prisoners in discipline about infrequent showers.
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Moreover, through our monitoring of the jail, we have spoken with prisoners who report
that they have stayed in disciplinary segregation for months or longer for minor offenses. For
example, one prisoner reports being sentenced to the hole for 90 days for having contraband in
his cell, specifically, extra linens, apples, and extra bread.185 While in the hole he received five
more months of discipline for possession of a razor since the punishment is doubled for
violations that occur while a prisoner is housed in the hole. Later, this same prisoner was given
an additional 20 days of discipline for covering the light in his cell with a piece of paper. ―I only
covered it because sometimes the deputies don‘t turn off the light at night,‖ he explained, ―and I
just wanted to sleep.‖186 In total, this prisoner was in discipline for almost 11 months, without
receiving recreation time or visitors.187
Through our advocacy, MCJ has agreed to change its disciplinary policy to provide for a
mandatory Unit-level review of all disciplinary sentences of more than 30 days. After 30 days,
the prisoner is supposed to be evaluated by medical and mental health staff to ensure that his
placement in disciplinary segregation is not medically contraindicated. This review is supposed
to continue every 15 days until the disciplinary sentence has ended. However, through our
monitoring we discovered that jail staff often flout the new disciplinary policy by finding
loopholes to get around the Unit-level review requirement. Our monitors have witnessed, on
several occasions, deputies sentence someone to 30 days in discipline, then let the prisoner spend
the 30 days in the hole, then let him out for one day so as not to trigger the Unit-level review,
and then put the person back in the hole to complete the disciplinary sentence they originally
intended.

185

Declaration of Prisoner 31, July 23, 2009, at ¶ 11.
Id. at ¶13.
187
Id.
186

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2.

Mental Disability and Discipline

Many prisoners in disciplinary segregation have serious mental health issues,
highlighting the woefully inadequate mental health treatment at MCJ. Through our monitoring,
we have found many prisoners in disciplinary segregation who have been ―declassified‖ from
mental health housing.188 That is, they have been transferred from the mental health unit at Twin
Towers to general population units after staff concluded they no longer needed the more
intensive treatment they were receiving in the mental health unit. Consequently, these prisoners
with serious mental health issues often end up in disciplinary housing for behavior that is
potentially a product of their mental illness. For example, we found one prisoner with a long
history of mental health problems (who had previously received treatment in jail, the community,
and in prison) housed in disciplinary segregation because he could not quickly follow orders—a
typical symptom of his diagnosed illness.189 The deputy responding to the incident thought this
prisoner had failed to respond because he was on drugs, and the prisoner was placed in the hole
based on the deputies‘ incident report.
Deputies understandably have difficulty distinguishing between behaviors that are truly
insubordinate or those that are mental health related, and this problem highlights the importance
of ongoing, clear communication between custody and mental health staff. The County‘s own
policy requires a review by mental health staff before discipline can be imposed on prisoners
housed in mental health housing in Tower 1.190 This review does not occur for prisoners on the
mental health caseload outside of Tower 1, however, or for prisoners with mental illness who
188

Declassifying refers to the process by which prisoners who were initially classified as having
certain special housing requirements, based on needs such as mental health needs or physical
disabilities, are ―declassified‖ and placed with the general jail population where they no longer
have access to the services they require.
189
ACLU Findings for the Dates of September 14-25, 2009, sent by M. Tiedeman, and T.
Weddle to Commanders on October 1, 2009 (on file with the ACLU-SC).
190
See Inmate Discipline, supra note 175, at Section IX.
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have been recently declassified or who are not identified as having mental illness. For example,
in April 2009 we met with a prisoner with a long history of bipolar disorder who was placed in
disciplinary segregation in MCJ after he was declassified from mental health housing in Twin
Towers just days before.191 We found him in a dark, dreary cell. He reported to us that he was
bipolar, had schizophrenia, and felt very unstable in his current housing. After we complained
about this issue, the jail transferred him back to mental health housing, but had we not come
across him he likely would have remained in disciplinary housing despite his obvious need for
mental health treatment.
This failure to classify prisoners properly is also a problem at Sergeant‘s Court. When a
prisoner at Sergeant‘s Court says that he has a mental illness, the prisoner is entitled to request
assistance with his hearing.192 However, in our experience, prisoners are rarely informed of this
right—we have never heard of such assistance actually provided at a Sergeant‘s Court.
This cycle of needless of suffering must be stopped and can be by implementing a
number of key reforms.
C.

•

Recommendations

Mental Health Staff Must Be Involved in the Disciplinary Process for Mentally Ill
Prisoners. By reason of their illness, mentally ill prisoners are more prone to violate
disciplinary rules than other prisoners.193 However, mentally ill prisoners at MCJ are more
likely to be punished than treated when they violate rules as a result of their illness. The
LASD should implement a policy ensuring that mentally ill prisoners who allegedly violate
disciplinary rules are referred to a mental health provider for an assessment, and that those
prisoners who are not on the mental health caseload who engage in behavior subject to
discipline that may be the product of mental illness are also referred to a provider. This is
especially true for mentally ill prisoners who are housed at MCJ since these prisoners are on
the mental health caseload but are not housed in the mental health housing in Tower 1 of
Twin Towers. The unique needs of these prisoners are often overlooked by mental health
staff during the disciplinary process. Mental health staff must also be involved in the

191

ACLU Findings from October 23, 2009, jail walk-through (on file with the ACLU-SC).
See Inmate Discipline, supra note 175, at Section VII.
193
Kupers Report, supra note 4, at 10.
192

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disciplinary process to ensure that mentally ill prisoners are not punished for behaviors that
are solely a product of their mental illness, and that the disciplinary sanction is consistent
with the prisoner‘s treatment needs.

•

The Jail Should Commission an Independent Audit of its Disciplinary Practices. The
LASD‘s disciplinary policies exist only on paper. Time and again, the ACLU monitors have
found that jail staff circumvent, or ignore, the disciplinary policies, with no known
repercussions or oversight. As a result, the Jail‘s disciplinary system denies prisoners their
basic due process rights because the limited number of disciplinary cells are not reserved for
the most dangerous offenders based on institutional conduct, and some prisoners may face
longer sentences as a result of unfounded disciplinary charges. Many other prison and jail
systems have commissioned independent audits of their disciplinary systems to ensure that
their disciplinary policies are actually followed, that punishment is proportionate to the
offense, and that long-term segregation is reserved for those very few prisoners who cannot
safely be managed in the general population. The National Institute of Corrections, in
particular, has done this work. The LASD should commission an independent audit of its
disciplinary practices.

•

The LASD Should Maintain Accurate Statistics on its Disciplinary System. Although
there is a review process for disciplinary charges, the ACLU has found this process is
nothing more than a rubber stamp, which often ignores evidence that clearly shows the
charged prisoner is not guilty. The LASD would be able to identify particular hearing
officers who are failing to carry out their duty to assess the evidence if the department kept
active statistics on dispositions by officer. Also, the LASD should keep accurate statistics on
the actual lengths of stay of prisoners in segregation to ensure that its rule requiring 30-day
reviews is being followed.

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VI.

CONCLUSION
As this report has described in detail, there are significant and pervasive problems with

the conditions in MCJ that negatively affect the health and well-being of the prison population
there and the surrounding community. One of the most significant of these problems is the
apparent culture of violence and retaliation that persists in the jail, a culture fueled by severe
overcrowding and understaffing; living conditions that add to the level of chaos in the jail and
tension between prisoners and deputies; and a lack of transparency and accountability when
Sheriff‘s staff are accused of using excessive force to subdue prisoners. In an aging and decrepit
facility, this culture leaves vulnerable those most susceptible to violence and victimization—like
prisoners with mental illness, for example—and it is the community if Los Angeles that pays the
price, both in terms of taxpayer dollars to fund a jail system housing constant re-offenders and in
terms of the societal costs absorbed by releasing back into the community men who have not
been prepared to successfully re-enter society.
Prisoners at MCJ are disconnected from jobs, their government benefits, and their social
support networks, with little to no rehabilitative services offered to help assure their successful
re-entry into the community when they are finally released from jail. Then, while in jail, they
must endure grossly unsanitary conditions; a lack of access to adequate, comprehensive mental
health services; and a climate of fear of abuse and retaliation at the hand of their custodians. The
result is that prisoners often leave the jail in a worse mental and emotional condition than when
they came in, and it is the community of Los Angeles that suffers because of it, in the form of
increased homelessness, mental health costs, and recidivism.
This report has called for many of the same reforms the ACLU has been demanding for
years: close down Men‘s Central Jail; significantly decrease the jail population to decrease the

63

overcrowding and improve conditions; and develop cost-effective alternatives to incarceration
that reduce crime and increase public safety. The current system creates a revolving door for the
men of our community from the jails to the street, with no meaningful effort to equip them for
successful re-integration into society. At the immense cost to taxpayers of over $1 billion per
year, this system is too expensive—and too ineffective---to sustain.
We hope the information and recommendations provided in this report will lead to
informed discussion and positive solutions to the problems in MCJ, solutions which would
include the depopulation and eventual closure of MCJ.

64