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| Federal judge to tour downtown LA jail |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 05/09/2006 |
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LOS ANGELES, CA - A federal judge said Monday he will tour the nation's largest jail following a series of brawls, including one last week that injured a dozen inmates and a deputy. At a hearing requested by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, U.S. District Court Judge Dean D. Pregerson agreed to visit the Men's Central Jail on Wednesday. The ACLU is seeking a court-imposed deadline for local authorities to address issues of overcrowding and understaffing. It was unclear what action, if any, the judge might take following the visit. A lawyer for the Sheriff's Department disputed the ACLU's claims, adding the county was complying with the settlement of a 1970s lawsuit to improve jail conditions. The downtown jail was the site of violence May 2, when two dozen members of a Hispanic street gang threw urine and feces at deputies making safety checks and at a nurse making his medical checks. Some inmates barricaded themselves in their cells as deputies tried to remove them and the officers responded with tear gas, rubber "stingballs" and pepperball ammunition. Several inmates in the jail clashed briefly two days earlier, but there were no injuries reported. It was the first significant outbreak of violence since a series of racial brawls involving black and Hispanic inmates killed two inmates and wounded almost 150 earlier this year. One inmate died in February at a jail in northern Los Angeles County and another collapsed and died after a February fight in a cell at the Men's Central Jail. |
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