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| Koreans Fear Race-based Attacks in L.A. County Jails |
| By Korea Times and The Korea Daily |
| Published: 02/09/2004 |
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Families of Korean inmates at the L.A. County Men's Central Jail don't want their family members to room with non-Asian prisoners. After an Asian inmate was assaulted by a group of African Americans, allegedly because he was thought to be Korean, family members are concerned Korean inmates are being targeted. On November 16, a Chinese American known as "T" was stabbed seven times by six African Americans. Investigators at the Sheriff Department reportedly suspect that the victim was mistaken for a Korean by the attackers. Families of Korean prisoners are concerned that Koreans prisoners will be victimized by non-Asian prisoners who are "physically stronger" and in more "powerful cliques." Twenty representatives of Korean inmates' families visited the office of County Sheriff Lee Bacca late last month to plead that Koreans be separated from non-Asians. They explained that Asian prisoners are known to be docile and submissive because they are physically smaller and don't have supporting cliques. The Rev. Soo Min Lee, who has been ministering Korean inmates in Southern California prisons since 1966, said he has seen Koreans become crime victims of non-Asians many times. State prisons that house inmates serving sentences are much better organized, Lee said. But county jails, where inmates are waiting for court judgments, are so crowded that it is common for half-dozen prisoners to share one room, making it difficult to keep them in order. Currently about 7,000 inmates in jails are waiting for court sentencing statewide. And Lee estimates that 300 to 400 Koreans are locked there. Aside from conflicts with non-Asian inmates, most of the Koreans suffer from cultural and language barriers, Lee said. At the meeting with Korean families, Deputy Sheriff Doyle Campbell said that the new room assignments were inevitable due to budget cuts and prisoner management policies. He pledged that the jail wardens would make more patrols and hinted that the authority would consider regrouping if they judge that Asians are in extreme danger when they are with non-Asians, according to a family representative. |
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