At a time when the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is releasing thousands of inmates because of budget shortfalls in the nation's largest jail system, it continues to wrongly hold scores of others who are entitled to release.

To avoid being sued for keeping inmates too long, the department is handing some of them checks for several hundred dollars but requiring them to sign documents that would prevent them from taking the county to court.

Four years ago, Los Angeles County paid $27 million to settle class-action lawsuits by inmates who were illegally jailed or mistreated while in custody.

A federal judge recently ordered the Sheriff's Department to explicitly tell inmates that by accepting a settlement — some get as little as a few dollars per day — they would no longer be eligible to sue the county for damages.

In at least some cases, forms written in English were presented to inmates who didn't speak the language fluently. After inquiries from The Times, the department said it would begin producing documents in Spanish for inmates to use to waive their legal rights.

In a 12-month period that ended in June, the department jailed 66 inmates who had been ordered released or who were never charged with crimes, according to sheriff's records. Most inmates were improperly held for days, a few for weeks or even months, mainly because of paperwork errors. Of the 66 inmates, 37 received checks in exchange for signing the legal waivers.

When told about the continuing problem of inmates staying in jail too long, Michael Gennaco, chief of the sheriff's Office of Independent Review, said Thursday that he would launch his own investigation into why the practice continues.

He said he is concerned that the department isn't doing enough to determine why the inmates are being improperly jailed.

The over-detentions have pointed up a paradox in the system: While some county inmates are held too long, others are released early. Since 2002, Baca has closed jails and released more than 100,000 inmates who have served as little as 10% of their court-ordered sentences for offenses that include burglary, minor assault and drunk driving.

Baca contends that budget cutbacks have left him no other choice but to cut jail time for lesser offenders. And he says he has addressed the wrongful detention problem, bringing the numbers way down from the 712 inmates who were improperly held in 1997-98.