Halt Verbal Abuse of Inmates, Judge Urges : Law enforcement: Informal order recommends that jail deputies hold their tongues, even when they are provoked.

A federal judge has told the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to make sure that its deputies refrain from verbal abuse of jail inmates and “maintain their professional demeanor at all times.”

“The court is fully aware that ‘psychological abuse’ is not a one-way street and that sheriff’s deputies are subjected to verbal abuse that tempts them sorely to respond in kind,” U.S. District Judge William P. Gray wrote in a memorandum to the county counsel. “Nonetheless, sheriff’s deputies must maintain their professional demeanor at all times, and any deputy that is unable to do so must be disciplined or removed.”

Gray’s memo comes in response to a number of complaints filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on May 9 on behalf of jail inmates. Among the complaints was that inmates have been subjected to “verbal and psychological abuse” by jail deputies.

The judge also recommended that inmates be allowed access to previous court rulings involving the jail and that they be allowed contact visits with their attorneys.

Assistant Sheriff John (Rocky) Hewitt said he had not seen the judge’s memorandum and declined to comment.

But he added, “In the past, we have tried to accommodate the judge’s wishes.

“We take the judge’s orders very seriously.”

The judge’s action is the latest in a long-running battle between the ACLU and the Sheriff’s Department regarding jail conditions. Gray ruled in 1978 that the Sheriff’s Department must relieve overcrowding and improve living conditions for prisoners at the Central Men’s Jail in Santa Ana. Since then, the ACLU has filed complaints in response to prisoners’ letters that not all provisions of Gray’s decision were being followed.

In his memorandum, Gray also directed that inmates be allowed to read his previous opinions and that the orders be posted “where inmates can see them.” He also recommended that authorities prepare a list of books and other printed items available in the jail library and that inmates in the Intake/Release Center be allowed contact visits with their attorneys in which they can sign or exchange documents.

“It’s at least a step in the right direction,” said Mirra Miller, legal aide to attorney Richard Herman, who filed the complaint. She said Herman was “ecstatic” when he first heard about the judge’s memorandum. Herman could not be reached for comment.

But Gray stressed that his conclusions were not formal orders.

“If the sheriff is willing to accept and carry out these conclusions, no orders from me may be necessary,” he wrote. “If the sheriff has contrary views, counsel for the defendants are requested to respond accordingly.”

In a separate class-action suit, filed in April and amended earlier this month, the ACLU alleged that prisoners in the central men’s and women’s jails have been placed in overcrowded cells, are physically and mentally mistreated and are denied access to reading material.

Among the specific complaints were that male guards observed women prisoners as they were showering.

In response to the complaints, Hewitt has defended the jail complex as one of the best-run facilities of its type in the country.

Deputy County Counsel Stefen Weiss, who represents the county against the ACLU lawsuit, could not be reached for comment.