Integration of Asian Inmates Angers Families

Nearly two dozen people angered by a recent decision by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to place Asian and Asian American inmates into the general population at the Men’s Central Jail met with Sheriff Lee Baca on Monday, urging him to reconsider the move.

Family, friends and loved ones of the Asian jail inmates said that ending a decade-long policy of segregation in an “Asian-only module” at the downtown Los Angeles jail would put the inmates in danger.

The unit housed about 300 inmates out of a total population of 7,000.

Rosie Tse, whose husband has been in jail while awaiting trial on suspicion of home-invasion robbery, said after the meeting that she was disappointed that Baca chose to focus on the importance of ending segregation at the jail rather than on maintaining a safe jail environment.

“I’ve already accepted that he’s serving time,” Tse said. “I’m upset that he’s not safe in jail.”

Sheriff’s deputies began moving the Asian inmates out of their segregated dorms early last week, causing some to set fire to mattresses and flood their cells.

Deputies quelled the uprising with high-powered water hoses, according to sources. No major injuries were reported.

Sheriff’s officials on a daily basis match inmate demographics with the capacity of each jail facility to determine the proper ethnic mix, Assistant Sheriff Doyle Campbell said. Asian gang members will continue to be segregated, he said. The shift away from segregation should save resources, he added.

The segregation policy was adopted in the early 1990s when there was a far lower proportion of Asian inmates relative to other racial groups at the Men’s Central Jail.

But over the past decade, the Asian population has increased to the point that -- given budget constraints, jail closures and deputy layoffs -- a return to the general population is necessary, Campbell said. “This was not done irrationally,” he said.

But Ben Wizner, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said Monday that the decision could backfire if any of the Asian inmates are seriously injured.

“The legal standard is whether jail officials were ‘deliberately indifferent’ to the health and safety of inmates,” said Wizner, adding that the ACLU has not taken a formal position on the re-integration of Asian inmates. “In this case, it would be difficult for jail officials to say they were not on notice of the inmates’ fears for their safety.”

Campbell said the Sheriff’s Department would address the concerns of inmates’ loved ones with follow-up meetings and a tour of the jail.

“Our goal is their goal ... a safe jail environment,” Campbell said. “That’s what we told them, and we will monitor it. If it appears this has placed them in an undue amount of jeopardy, we could reverse the decision.”