Jail Barber Says He Saw Deputies Beat, Kick Inmates

Based on the declaration of a jail barber who claims he saw several inmates being beaten and kicked in padded cells of the Orange County Jail, the American Civil Liberties Union on Friday filed documents in federal court asking that Sheriff Brad Gates be found in contempt for the alleged beatings.

In filing the documents with the federal district court in Santa Ana, ACLU attorney Richard P. Herman also presented an inmate’s declaration that a cellmate who died earlier this week was refused medical attention.

Robert J. Orosco, 28, of La Puente was found dead in his cell Tuesday. Orosco had been arrested in Buena Park on Sunday for allegedly stealing meat from a store.

Thomas Logan, an inmate in Orosco’s cellblock, said in his sworn statement that Orosco was suffering from “severe drug withdrawals” but was refused medical attention.

Herman, who has two other brutality cases pending against Gates and the county, said the allegations of brutality by inmate Jack Joseph Donaldson were among the strongest he has had to bring to the court’s attention. Donaldson, who also is known as Albert Lawrence Donaldson, has been a barber on the jail’s second floor since January and has earned the position of trusty, a designation for an inmate who has been assigned duties of responsibility in the jail.

“The statements by Donaldson are very clear and attest to the conditions at the jail,” Herman said.

Gates said Friday he was unaware of the new allegations filed by the ACLU against him.

“I have no comment since I have not seen the lawsuit. But Dick Herman has never filed a valid complaint against us once all the facts have been determined,” Gates said.

Donaldson, 40, is serving a two-year sentence at the jail for petty theft and being under the influence of heroin.

He also admitted to having “an extensive police record” for a variety of crimes, including burglary and possession and sale of narcotics.

In his statement, Donaldson said that since February he has witnessed 10 or 12 inmates being physically abused by deputies in the rubber room, the name given to padded cells at the main men’s jail in Santa Ana.

The inmate said that he has seen the beatings on a television monitor in the guardroom, which is situated directly in front of the jail barber’s station.

“I can see the monitor right in front of me as I cut hair. You can hear them yelling and screaming. The deputies are beating them with their fists and kicking them,” Donaldson said Friday during an interview at the jail.

He said the inmates all have been nude--and some have been handcuffed--during the beatings.

In his signed declaration, he wrote: “I have seen about 10 to 12 inmates physical abused, beaten, handcuffed and overpowered by deputys and then thrown into the rubber rooms. All were thrown in naked. Some were naked and handcuffed. The mental health team approved this on orders from the sargant.”

Donaldson said he knew only one of the inmates he saw beaten--Joseph Arregoin, who earlier also had been a barber and a jail trusty.

“He got both of his eyes blackened. He was also choked,” Donaldson said.

Arregoin also gave the ACLU a sworn statement alleging that jail guards beat him in June.

Donaldson said the deputies have undergone a shift rotation during the past month and the deputies on the current night shift have not beaten any prisoners in the rubber room. He said he cuts hair on the second floor from 3:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Donaldson, who has served two prison terms for burglary, is scheduled to be released from jail in two months. He has been in custody for the past 13 months. He served the first six months of his current sentence in the Theo Lacy jail facility in Orange.

But he said that he was transferred to the main jail in Santa Ana in January after he had a “hassle” with a deputy at Theo Lacy. He also said he had lost his good-time credit when he was transferred.

However, Donaldson denied Friday that he had a vengeful motive against the jail deputies.

“Look, I imagine there will be repercussions when this gets out. They can beat me. But what can they really do to me? I’ve already done the time,” he said.

“They are just . . . over people,” Donaldson added. “As a barber, you see everyone in here. You know what’s going on. And this (brutality) has been going on for a long time.”

Marla Moller, the deputy public defender who represented Donaldson in his latest case, said that despite his criminal record, Donaldson is honest.

“This is a guy who comes forward. He’s the only one out of a cell of 20 people who would stand up when he saw something wrong,” Moller said.

The deputy public defender also said Donaldson wrote her a letter last January alleging that there was a lack of proper medical attention at the jail. Donaldson claimed that an inmate had suffered a seizure and jail personnel had refused him care.

“I felt he had compassion for other inmates,” Moller said.