Grand Jury Rips Sheriff for S.D. Beatings

In harsh, blunt language, the San Diego County Grand Jury on Tuesday blasted the sheriff’s operation of the jails, confirming that inmates were frequently beaten by deputies, that there have been internal cover-ups of the assaults, and that Sheriff John Duffy and other top department leaders have allowed many deputies to experience a “delight in cruelty to others.”

The grand jury report comes after a lengthy investigation into scores of allegations by inmates that they were routinely beaten in each of the six county detention facilities by San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies, including a notorious “Rambo Squad,” over the last several years.

“At first glance this conduct and the motives appear to be merely childish and immature,” the report said in describing the abuse of inmates by deputies.

“However, it was a routine and systematic occurrence performed by the same group of deputies. Thus, a more disturbing picture comes into focus--delight in cruelty to others.”

‘Totally Reprehensible’

Further, the grand jury characterized the deputies’ conduct as “totally reprehensible and inexcusable.”

“Of equal concern is the fact that other sheriff’s deputies were aware of, or witnessed, this inmate mistreatment and did not intervene to stop it,” the report said. “This code of silence meant that no one stopped it, and no one reported it to a supervisor.

“Those bystander deputies shirked their professional responsibility as sworn peace officers. Accountability for individual action was non-existent; and supervision was lacking or ineffective.”

And the report sharply chastised Duffy for demonstrating a “lack of leadership” by not properly and thoroughly investigating the allegations of abuse.

“The ultimate responsibility for the management and leadership of the Sheriff’s Department rests with the sheriff and his upper management team,” the report said. “Instead, the leadership chose to focus their attention on the personalities of the complainants while ignoring whether or not there was any substance to the complaints.”

Yet, despite the strong language of the report, it is unlikely that any large number of deputies will face criminal charges in the wake of the year-long allegations of jail abuse. Both the U. S. attorney and the county district attorney said they will not open new criminal investigations into the accusations.

Duffy was in Los Angeles on Tuesday attending a meeting of California sheriffs and could not be reached for comment. But his spokesman, Lt. Alan Fulmer, said the sheriff will hold a press conference soon to respond to the report’s assertions.

“He will be addressing each and every one of these allegations when he has had a chance to review the report,” Fulmer said.

The lieutenant was also contrite in acknowledging that the grand jury’s report and recommendations will be taken seriously.

“The recommendations do have merit,” he said. “We’re not at all upset with the report by the grand jury. This was not totally unexpected.”

He also indicated that the discipline of certain deputies may be forthcoming.

“I know we’re going to take a long, hard look at it, and at present two deputy sheriffs are on administrative assignment as a result of some activities out at the El Cajon jail,” he said. “And that’s not to say there won’t be any more discipline. That’s a possibility.”

He declined to identify which deputies have been disciplined at the El Cajon jail, which the grand jury report singled out as the location of a “Rambo Squad” of deputies who have been particularly aggressive against inmates.

And it was from that jail that the first inmate stepped forth to publicly allege that he was assaulted by deputies.

Last April, inmate Orned (Chicken) Gabriel said he was handcuffed, forced to the floor and repeatedly kicked and beaten by a gang of deputies later identified as the Rambo Squad. His story touched off an avalanche of allegations from present and former inmates with similar stories of abuse at the hands of deputies.

‘Brothers in Spirit’

“This is amazing,” Gabriel said Tuesday, when told of the grand jury’s conclusions.

“I feel like justice is finally being done. I feel like, not only am I being helped by this report, but so too are thousands of other people who have gone through the jails and are in there now. I feel like we are brothers in spirit.”

And Joseph Moore, the most recent inmate to come forward with allegations, said: “Finally, somebody is tired of hearing about all this brutality.”

The report comes after a decision last month by the U. S. attorney’s office not to file federal charges of civil rights violations against deputies in 70 of 72 cases that office examined.

William Braniff, the U. S. attorney, said Tuesday that he did not see a disparity between the fact that his office has decided not to prosecute most of the cases and the grand jury’s documentation of abuse by deputies.

“We were looking at specific cases, whether there was specific evidence to warrant prosecution,” he said. “Our mission and jurisdiction was not to look at the institutions themselves and how they’re administered.

“So we were not addressing the same issues, and there’s not necessarily an overlap in our two inquiries.”

He added that the two remaining cases “are still being pursued” for possible criminal violations.

Edwin L. Miller Jr., the county district attorney, said the grand jury’s findings are “more detailed than any similar investigation I can recall.”

“I believe their recommendations are eminently sensible and, if adopted, will clearly strengthen the protection afforded jail inmates,” he said. “That strengthening of protections is necessary.”

But he said “we anticipate no criminal prosecution” to follow from his office.

“The unacceptable behavior described in the grand jury report was documented in general terms to the satisfaction of the grand jury but falls short of proving specific illegal behavior by specific deputies to the satisfaction of a trial court,” Miller said.

“I must stress, however, that in these or any other incidents, if sufficient information is developed which makes allegations provable in a criminal court of law, we will initiate the prosecution of the guilty parties.”

‘Confirms ... Cover-Up’

But Betty Wheeler, who as legal director of the local ACLU has closely monitored the jailhouse allegations, said the report is more evidence for the creation of an independent police review board to monitor the Sheriff’s Department.

“I think this is a wonderful vindication for the many brave people who came forward and complained,” she said.

“The report confirms the existence of the Rambo Squad, confirms there was a cover-up and a code of silence and, more broadly, this report documents that there are entirely inadequate procedures in place for preventing this kind of conduct, for investigating complaints of abuse and for punishing people who use excessive force.

“And it substantiates the need for there to be some sort of independent review.”

Although Duffy was not readily available to comment on the grand jury’s determinations, Armistead B. Smith Jr., the panel’s foreman, said he expected a written response from the sheriff within 60 days, as stipulated by law.

“Hopefully, this report will be welcomed by the sheriff,” Smith said, “and used in a constructive manner to clear up deficiencies within the department that we have highlighted in the report.

“We’ve given the sheriff a chance now to clean house and hopefully he’ll do it.”

The grand jury foreman also discounted jail crowding as the principal reason for the large number of abuse allegations. That issue has been cited by Duffy as a reason for high tensions between deputies and inmates in the jails.

“We did not consider overcrowding as being the prime factor in creating the problems,” Smith said.

The grand jury report did not name any deputies or inmates, and only used the El Cajon jail as an example of the kinds of abuse that has occurred.

In the El Cajon facility, the report said, inmates have been assaulted and harassed. It said inmates were given “wall therapy,” in which they were forced to stare at walls. If they moved, the report said, it “gave the deputies an excuse to respond.”

The report said inmate cells were trashed and inmate’s personal belongings, such as pictures of loved ones, were thrown on the floor, damaged and defiled.

‘Makes You Feel Good’

And deputies told the grand jury that inmates were abused for a wide variety of reasons. One reason, the report quoted a deputy as saying, was because “it makes you feel good . . . “

The report said large groups of deputies sometimes left the El Cajon jail to patrol areas of El Cajon and Santee.

“Traffic stops were made, and patrons of an adult bookstore were subjected to field investigations,”’ the report said. “Sometimes, this operation left only four or five deputies on duty inside the El Cajon jail.”

Fulmer said “it’s unfortunate, to say the least” that the grand jury found such abuse in the jails, but added that it appeared to be “a direct reflection of the lack of supervision, primarily the first line of supervisors, the sergeants who are in there day in and day out.”

On the problems with the top leadership not properly responding to the allegations of abuse, Fulmer again said the problem was that jail sergeants were not forwarding their concerns to their own supervisors, which left top administrators unaware of the depth of the problem.

“If the sergeant doesn’t report the allegations, then the lieutenants and the captain aren’t going to know about it,” he said.

The report also criticized deputies for covering up many of the allegations by falsely filling out Inmate Status Reports, which must be completed whenever excessive force is used against a deputy. And the report said some deputies did not fill out the reports at all.

“For all intents and purposes, those confrontations between deputies and inmates never occurred, at least not in record form,” the report said.

The report also faulted the sheriff’s Internal Affairs Division as too small to properly investigate complaints, and, Fulmer said “there’s no question about that.”

“That recommendation will be given prime consideration,” he said. “And I think it’s well-warranted and well-justified.”