INCIDENTS OF VIOLENCE AT ORANGE COUNTY JAIL

Last May Lawrence G. Grossman, a consultant hired by the county to study its jail operations, described 17 altercations within the jail between deputies and inmates

as representing a “possible excessive use of force.” The 17 were drawn from 88 incidents during a 3-month period ending last January. The Times obtained the reports filed

by jail deputies on each of the 17 incidents. Here is a summary, based on those reports:

Nov. 6, 1987

6 a.m. in the third-floor housing area. Inmate suffered quarter-inch laceration above his eye. One inmate and one deputy involved.

Inmate refused to wake up for his court call. Deputy went into cell to rouse him and the inmate lunged at him. In the struggle, deputy pushed inmate’s face into the wall.

Nov. 7

2:15 a.m. in the booking area. Inmate’s mouth bloodied. One inmate and an unknown number of deputies involved.

Inmate was lying on the holding cell bench instead of sitting up, as he was ordered. He was removed from the cell to be isolated from other inmates. He became combative and was wrestled to the floor.

Nov. 23

At an unreported time in a housing area. Inmate complained of back injuries, but none were found. One inmate and five deputies were involved in the incident.

Inmate refused to move from one cell to another and threatened deputies with a fight if he was forced. Told them, “My cell is clean--there’s bugs in other cells.” Five deputies confronted him in his cell; one saw some apples in the back of the cell in violation of jail rules and stepped inside to get them. When he saw the inmate clench his fists and breathe shallowly, the deputy put a rear wristlock on the inmate and another deputy joined to handcuff him.

Nov. 24

5:10 a.m. in the booking area. Inmate suffered a quarter-inch laceration on his chin and required stitches. One inmate and two deputies were involved.

Inmate was hostile in booking process and said he had been taken into custody on warrants that were not his. Report says inmate took a fighting stance and then deputy spun him around, put him in a rear wristlock and pushed his face into a wall, causing the cut on the chin. “Once the inmate saw blood on his T-shirt he stopped resisting me,” the deputy wrote.

Dec. 21

3:30 p.m. in the booking area. Inmate suffered a cut on his lower lip and sore ribs. One inmate and two deputies were involved.

Inmate became hostile in the booking area and threw shoe at one deputy and punched another in the chest, causing the second deputy to punch the inmate in the face. Both deputies put inmate in a double rear wristlock and he calmed down.

Dec. 3

6:30 p.m. in a chow hall. Inmate suffered bruises. One inmate and three deputies were involved.

Inmate was being hostile in dining room, playing with intercom and refusing to respond to orders. Deputy asked to see his identification bracelet, and he hid his hand behind his back. As the deputy turned to talk to another officer, he saw a fist come at him and ducked. There was a fight in which the deputy was hit in the stomach and the groin. The deputy hit the inmate three times in the face with his closed fist. At least two other deputies intervened, placing the inmate in a rear wristlock and handcuffing him.

Dec. 11

3:25 a.m. in the booking area. Inmate’s nosewas bloodied. One inmate and three deputies were involved.

Inmate was brought in drunk and was scheduled to be cited and released. He became uncooperative, refused to have his picture taken. He was handcuffed. When the handcuffs were to be taken off he became hostile and was put on his knees by deputies, then on his stomach. While on his stomach he turned his head from side to side several times, hitting his nose on the floor and causing it to bleed.

Dec. 13

9 a.m. in the booking area. Inmate was rendered unconscious and had broken bones that may have resulted from a car accident before his arrest. One inmate and four deputies were involved.

While being fingerprinted after a hit-and-run accident, inmate became verbally abusive with three deputies. A fourth grabbed his shoulder, spun him around and “asked him if he had a problem. He said, ‘Yeah, I’ve got a (expletive) problem.’ ” The deputy then put him in a rear wristlock and then a carotid hold position. After 10 seconds the inmate “went limp” and appeared unconscious. When he came around, he said he was OK. Doctors said he had a fractured hand and scrapes and bruises that the report attributes to the car accident. He was put in a medical isolation cell and was checked every 15 minutes because he was considered self-destructive.

Dec. 22

6:45 a.m. in a chow hall. No injuries. Nine inmates and many deputies involved.

An inmate leaving the chow hall refused to give a deputy an apple he had in his pocket. A crowd of inmates surrounded the deputy as he ordered the inmate to produce the apple. The inmates told the deputy to stop picking on the individual inmate. The guard station was alerted and several deputies arrived outside the chow hall. All of the uninvolved inmates left and nine remained in the chow hall. After repeated orders, they complied by sitting on the floor with their hands behind their heads. In handcuffing the inmates, some became hostile and their jumpsuits were torn.

Dec. 27

12:55 a.m. in the booking area. No injuries. One inmate and three deputies involved.

A man arrested for petty theft was to be cited and released but would not cooperate with the booking procedure. He refused to hold a pen to sign the papers and did not respond to orders for fingerprinting. When the papers with the court appearance date were put in his shirt pocket he threw them on the floor. A deputy tried to place the paper back in his pocket, and the inmate reportedly grabbed the deputy’s arm. The deputy hit the inmate in the face three times, although there were no injuries reported by medical staff. The deputy reported that he was struck in the chest but sustained no injury.

Dec. 28

12:25 a.m. in the booking area. No injuries. One inmate and two deputies involved.

Inmate was arrested on a bench warrant and refused to be searched. Deputy had to force inmate’s legs apart during search. No further incident. Inmate was cited and released.

Jan. 12, 1988

7:30 a.m. in a housing area. Inmate’s wrist was sprained. One inmate and four deputies

were involved.

Inmate refused to sign a complaint about a previous violation with which he was charged. When a second deputy entered the cell, the inmate lunged at him. Two other deputies put the inmate in a double rear wristlock and a fourth deputy handcuffed him.

Jan. 12

4:40 p.m. in a chow hall. Possible head injury to inmate. One inmate and one deputy involved.

Inmate in chow hall made an obscene gesture toward a group of 36 black inmates and began yelling racist remarks. A deputy told him to leave and as he was at the door he stopped and continued yelling, and the black inmates yelled back as they became more agitated. To end the situation, the deputy grabbed the inmate and forced him out the door. The inmate struggled and was shoved into the wall by the deputy, hitting his head. He was then handcuffed and taken to another chow hall for a meal. Medical officials said he had a red area on his temple and would need to be checked.

Jan. 13

7:30 a.m. in a housing area. Inmate’s nose bloodied. One inmate and three deputies involved.

Inmates in Tank 25 refused to sweep the area in front of their cells. They refused again even after a deputy told them they would not have day room privileges. The deputy got a volunteer inmate from another tank to sweep, but the volunteer declined when he was physically threatened by Tank 25 inmates. Another volunteer sweeper from another tank had the same experience. With a third volunteer, the deputy entered the tank with him and--outside the view of the inmates in the cell--he heard the sweeper threatened by an inmate who said he would have the volunteer killed if he swept the tank. The deputy took that inmate out of his cell and, when he struggled, forced him to the floor with a rear wristlock, causing him to hit his nose on the floor.

Jan. 19

8:15 a.m. in a housing area. Inmate suffered a bloody lip and a bruise on his cheek. Deputy had a scrape on right arm and chin and the side of his head was sore. One inmate and several deputies involved.

Inmate returning to his cell refused to produce a pass. When the deputy asked him to repeat his refusal the inmate swung and hit the deputy in the left side of his head. The two exchanged several blows and several deputies responded.

Jan. 19

8:15 a.m. in a housing area. No injuries. One inmate and one deputy involved.

Deputy writing report saw a deputy and an inmate in a vestibule talking when the inmate swung and hit the deputy in the head. He and several other deputies responded to control the inmate.

Jan. 30

10:30 a.m. in a housing area. Inmate’s lip was bloodied. One inmate and one deputy was involved.

Inmate was wearing a skullcap and was told to remove it. He called the deputy a punk, and other inmates joined in with the same name-calling. Inmate with cap was removed to vestibule and, during a search, became combative and was forced into the wall by the deputy.