Shock at inmates is unreal

Of the many immortal lines in “Casablanca,” one of the best is when the local French gendarme says in mock alarm to the cafe owner: “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.”

Watching Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas on Monday morning, I had a “Casablanca” moment. Rackauckas isn’t even close to being the bad guy in this scenario, but it would have been more reassuring if he hadn’t seemed so wide-eyed at discovering that awful things go on in the county jails.

The three-term D.A. was at the microphone to discuss his office’s report on the grand jury investigation into the October 2006 death of John Chamberlain at the Theo Lacy detention facility. Two days after his jailing on charges of possessing child pornography, Chamberlain, 41, was sodomized, kicked and beaten to death by “waves” of inmates, Rackauckas said. Nine inmates have been charged with murder, but the grand jury didn’t return criminal charges against any of the deputies on duty, whose conduct Rackauckas found “shocking and unacceptable.”

As a citizen and district attorney, Rackauckas said, “I absolutely can’t tell you how distressed I am at some of the evidence we uncovered.” Not only were some deputies lazy and derelict on the job, but they allowed inmates to sometimes discipline other prisoners.

He was further disappointed, he said, that higher-ups in the Sheriff’s Department decided to investigate Chamberlain’s death in-house, rather than follow the normal protocol and call in the D.A.’s investigators.

And as for the assault that Chamberlain sustained, Rackauckas said, “It is not acceptable for a civilized society to allow inmates to run the jail. The only punishment anyone deserves, even if the crime is unsavory and despicable, is the one handed down by our justice system.”

Let’s hope this wasn’t the D.A.’s first clue that inmates “run” lots of jails and prisons and that higher-ups are fond of protecting their own fannies.

For the record: Rackauckas deserves a deep bow for calling the special grand jury in May 2007 to look into Chamberlain’s death. Yes, it’s what he’s supposed to do, but it has at least resulted in publicizing a lot of ugly truths the Sheriff’s Department didn’t want out there but which citizens deserve to know. If nothing else, give Rackauckas credit for highlighting a term sure to enter the Orange County lexicon: “shot-callers,” whom he defined as the inmates designated to enforce jailhouse discipline.

In his roll call of disgust, Rackauckas cited deputies who watch TV, play video games and sleep on duty. Rackauckas found that last element so strange, he chuckled in disbelief and said, “I have to repeat, sleeping.” In a particularly grim twist, the deputy assigned to monitor the safety in Chamberlain’s barracks was text-messaging at the time the inmate was being beaten to death, according to Rackauckas’ summary.

The only reason I’m jabbing Rackauckas at all is because his professed astonishment may illustrate why nothing ever gets done on jailhouse and prison reform here or elsewhere. When a prosecutor, judge and district attorney such as Rackauckas are appalled to learn that inmates mete out discipline or that jailers aren’t the cream of the law enforcement crop, it suggests an unwillingness to get informed.

The D.A. pointed out that jail safety and procedures are the responsibility of the Sheriff’s Department. Very true, and Rackauckas isn’t at fault for a major systems breakdown on the night Chamberlain died.

But wouldn’t it help the cause if he and other prosecutors around the state or country took the lead on penal system reform? Cops and prosecutors are typically cozy bedfellows, for obvious reasons, but maybe this episode will open at least one D.A.’s eyes a bit to the real world.

Cases such as this have led many outsiders to argue for civilian oversight of complaints against law enforcement officers. Orange County recently approved a civilian commission, and Rackauckas said Monday he supported it, although he opposed the idea months ago when it included oversight of his investigators and gave the review panel broader authority than it now will have.

But I must repeat myself: Rackauckas isn’t our villain today. That designation goes to former Sheriff Mike Carona, who was still in charge when the Chamberlain travesty occurred. Rackauckas all but said that Carona gave the order that the Chamberlain investigation would be handled in-house, as if it could have happened any other way.

Another sad chapter to the Carona career, which ended with his resignation in January so he could fight federal corruption charges. In a November 2003 column, I asked Carona, then an extremely popular figure, to attack long-standing jail problems. I suggested it could be his legacy.

Three years later, he was sending out the word that, for the first time ever in an Orange County jail homicide, his department would not turn the investigation over to the D.A.’s office.

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. He can be reached at (714) 966-7821 or at dana.parsons@latimes.com. An archive of his recent columns is at www.latimes.com/parsons