Jail Violence at Boiling Point, Witnesses Say

A group of former jail inmates, their voices choked and cracking as they struggled to hold back tears, stood one at a time before the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday and described being beaten by deputies and seeing fellow inmates brutalized by them. They warned the board that violence inside the jails is reaching an explosion point.

“I beseech you,” said Nita Van Heest, crying as she told supervisors of seeing other women inmates assaulted by deputies in the Las Colinas jail often during her five months there in 1986 and 1987.

“I beseech you to do all you can to help these people. They are in dire need.”

3 Minutes to Tell Story

Given three minutes each to tell their stories, 10 former inmates stepped, one at a time, to the podium. One was a former Catholic priest, another a housewife; a third the mother of two. They urged the creation of a citizens’ review board to oversee the Sheriff’s Department. They also proposed that Sheriff John Duffy be recalled.

One of them, Don Egan, stepped away from the microphone and tossed an envelope of photographs on the supervisors’ table. The pictures showed large and dark bruises on the wrists and legs of his girlfriend, whom he said was beaten by four Las Colinas deputies after she was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving last August.

“She ended up in a cast,” he said.

Egan then turned his attention to Sheriff John Duffy, who has characterized all of the former inmates as drunkards and self-serving individuals.

“I don’t think these people are self-serving at all,” he said, pointing at the dozen former inmates in the room. “These people are shaking. These people are crying. You heard their voices cracking.

“There are a lot of problems in the jails,” he added, “and I suggest you people open your eyes and get with it.”

The afternoon public hearing was called by the supervisors in the midst of allegations and civil claims from current and former inmates complaining that deputies beat inmates, stripped them naked and chained them in isolation cells.

The allegations have sparked a federal investigation encompassing the FBI, the U.S. attorney’s office and a federal grand jury. Also, the foreman of the outgoing county grand jury has said his panel will investigate the allegations in the remaining three weeks of its term.

The supervisors voted Tuesday to ask the new county grand jury, which takes office July 1, to investigate the charges, a request that has been seconded by Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller and Superior Court Judge Michael I. Greer.

At the close of Wednesday’s hearing, the supervisors announced that a complete transcript of the session would be forwarded to the new grand jury. But the supervisors themselves did not indicate whether they believe widespread abuse is being practiced by deputies against inmates.

“I think there is some abuse, yes,” Supervisor Leon Williams said after the hearing. “But I do not think it is the kind of activity condoned by Sheriff Duffy.”

Duffy, who had been scheduled to appear at the hearing to describe jail procedures, said Tuesday that he would be unable to attend and asked that the session be rescheduled.

In his absence, the five supervisors discussed at some length what control, if any, they have over the Sheriff’s Department and how the deputies treat inmates.

Influence Limited

Supervisor Brian Bilbray pointed out that Duffy is beholden only to the electorate and the state attorney general’s office, which monitors law enforcement in the state. In fact, Anthony Albers, deputy county counsel, said the supervisors’ influence over Duffy is very limited.

He said the board, in reviewing monetary claims filed by inmates against the county, can make recommendations to Duffy about changes in his jail procedures.

“But it is not the prerogative of the Board of Supervisors to direct the sheriff on how to operate the jails,” Albers said. “The sheriff is not under any mandate to act on the board’s recommendations.”

Albers added that the attorney general’s office could “direct the sheriff to take certain steps” in changing jail procedures. “We could ask him to look into the situation and direct some sort of review,” he said.

Judges Put in Word

Also speaking at the two-hour meeting were two judges, who described heavy caseloads and crowded jails and their concerns with releasing felony offenders. The officials, although thankful for the passage Tuesday of the sales-tax increase to provide money for jail and courtroom space, were worried about increases in crimes--particularly drug and gang activity--that threatens to further choke the criminal justice system.

“We’re eventually going to get to the point where the rubber meets the road and we’re going to resist releasing dangerous people,” said Superior Court Judge Wayne L. Peterson.

Asked if inmates in his courtroom routinely advise him that they have been mistreated by deputies, Peterson said those allegations are occasionally raised, and that, when it is appropriate, he notifies the Sheriff’s Department.

‘Listen to Inmates’

“I generally listen to the inmates,” the judge said. “Sometimes they are clearly self-serving. They find a forum and utilize it to its extent.”

“But,” he added, “with thousands of individuals incarcerated in our jails, the number of complaints can be counted probably on your hands and feet.”

But the former inmates addressing the board after Peterson had spoken made it clear that their allegations of deputy brutality should not be taken lightly. They said they are stepping forward in spite of “character assassinations” by Duffy, despite advice from their private attorneys that doing so could jeopardize their cases, and despite the board’s earlier acknowledgement that it has no real control over the Sheriff’s Department.

Ex-Priest Speaks

“Mr. Duffy has said he answers to no one,” said James Butler, a former priest who allegedly was beaten in the Vista jail. “Well, when I was studying theology, the only one who could say that was God. And I don’t think Mr. Duffy comes close to that.”

When Butler suggested a citizens review board for the Sheriff’s Department, supervisors Bilbray and George Bailey said that such a panel would be advisory only. “It could only be an advisory board, and it would not be mandatory,” said Bailey, the board chairman.

Van Heest, another former inmate, described a series of abuses she said she witnessed in the Las Colinas’ womens jail. She said one inmate was thrown against a steel cage and that another was forced to vomit and defecate in a shower, while jail personnel stood by.

She described another inmate who fell to the floor, unconscious, while waiting in a line for medication.

‘Did Absolutely Nothing’

“The nurse peered down at her and did absolutely nothing,” Van Heest said. “And the other 200 women had to step over her to get her medication. Finally, two deputies had to pull her off to the side, and then they left her there.”

Colleen Mills, another former inmate, said she weighs 93 pounds and was beaten by four deputies in 1986. She suggested two inmate suicides at Las Colinas might actually have been homicides, done at the hands of deputies.

Patricia Rockford said she saw another inmate go through labor pains without assistance from the deputies. And Rockford said she, too, was beaten by deputies.

“But are you going to believe me?” she asked the supervisors. “Come on, now. You’re going to believe Duffy. He’s the man. And my kids see it. So how do you expect them to have any respect for the law? The same law that beat up their mother.”