County Jail Personnel Relieved Of Duty Pending Investigation Into Inmate

The Los Angeles County Sheriff has placed a group of jail employees on leave because of an accusation they neglected an inmate.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell announced an investigation Saturday into more than a dozen deputies accused of leaving an inmate handcuffed and depriving him of food for 32 hours following a June 19 arrest. This allegedly happened “following a force incident during which the inmate reportedly assaulted a female deputy”, officials said in a Saturday statement.

“McDonnell called the allegations of inmate neglect “troubling” and said he acted on Friday, a day after he learned of the inmate”™s complaint.

The investigation into the latest suspected misconduct began with a complaint filed by an inmate on June 27, eight days after being booked.

Those relieved of duty include two lieutenants, a sergeant, a senior deputy, four deputies and a two custody assistants, sheriff’s officials said.

Besides the employees relieved of duty, other unspecified employees have been reassigned pending investigation, the department said. He added that the investigation into the incident would be “thorough” and will also focus on the policies and procedures regarding how inmates are treated. In recent times, the department have been getting increased enquiries of detention facilities that ranks as the country’s biggest jail system, comprising nearly 20,000 inmates. However, the department claimed that the inmate was provided with medical services during his restraining hours. Sheriff’s officials noted, however, the inmate had eaten upon entering the jail, received medical attention and a cup of water during that time.

The Department of Justice found past year that the sheriff’s department failed to provide sufficient suicide prevention practices to protect prisoners from self-harm and that there were other serious deficiencies in their delivery of mental health care despite a 2002 memorandum of understanding between the two agencies to deal with such issues.

The FBI is investigating a range of jail abuses that allegedly involved those at the highest levels of the department.

All custody personnel assigned to IRC were sent protocols regarding restraint, checks and feeding of inmates.

The FBI is conducting an investigation of the Sheriff’s Department’s management of county jails.