Local News in Brief : Countywide : Maniscalco Returned to County’s Main Jail

Orange County Jail inmate Thomas F. Maniscalco was released from a medical observation cell Wednesday morning and returned to the main jail, his attorney, Joanne Harrold, said.

Maniscalco complained that he had been sent to the medical cell--which he compared to solitary confinement--in retaliation for his talking with a Times reporter about prisoners’ request that they be served more Mexican food. He was ordered into the medical cell Tuesday, the same day The Times story was published.

He said he was told that doctors needed to monitor his diet before they gave him tests for a gallbladder problem that he has had for several months. But Harrold said he was returned to his cell before the tests were done.

Officials from the Sheriff’s Department and the county Health Care Agency said Tuesday that the medical isolation was ordered by doctors concerned about his medical condition. They were unavailable for comment late Wednesday.