Man is slain in his Twin Towers cell

A Los Angeles County Jail inmate beat his cellmate to death, the fourth homicide in the nation’s largest jail system in the last year, authorities said Thursday.

Sheriff’s officials said they did not know what prompted the assault late Wednesday or how long it lasted. Deputies said they learned of the beating from inmates who reported that a man was down in the fifth-floor mental health module at downtown’s Twin Towers Correctional Facility.

The inmate was found dead on the floor of his locked two-man cell about 11:15 p.m., said Capt. Ray Peavy, who oversees the Sheriff’s Department’s homicide division. The other inmate in the cell is the only suspect, Peavy said.

“It didn’t appear it was mutual combat. It appeared it was a one-way attack,” he said. He added that the suspect was covered in blood and claimed his cellmate had fallen off his bunk.

Department officials said they had not determined how one inmate was able to kill another without the knowledge of deputies assigned to watch them from a control booth and from the jail floor.

The two inmates were in a cell behind a locked door that had a window so deputies could see inside. Both inmates were assigned to a module with 192 people determined to have mental health issues, Lt. Mike Pippin said.

Authorities declined to identify the 51-year-old victim, because they had not yet notified his relatives.

The suspect is Jay Selznick, a 27-year-old man awaiting trial in a carjacking case, Peavy said. The victim, who had previously served time in prison, was being held on a parole violation, officials said.

Unlike the department’s antiquated Men’s Central Jail across the street, Twin Towers is a modern jail designed so deputies can view each cell from a control booth. The booth is at the center of a crescent that provides deputies a 180-degree view of the surrounding cells, Pippin said.

Deputies are also required by federal law to inspect each cell hourly. They had last checked the cell 36 minutes before the victim was found, Peavy said.

The head of the department’s oversight agency questioned why inmates of such disparate ages were housed in the same cell.

“The idea of keeping older people away from younger people is a note we have played before and is certainly something the department needs to look at with regard to this case,” said Michael Gennaco, chief attorney for the Office of Independent Review, which monitors sheriff’s internal affairs investigations.

In February, 45-year-old Wayne Tiznor was slain during a riot involving much younger inmates at the department’s North County Correctional Facility in Castaic.

After Wednesday’s slaying, the department opened an internal investigation, which Pippin described as routine procedure. He said the county Department of Mental Health makes cell assignments on the floor where the slaying occurred.

The internal investigation will help the Sheriff’s Department determine why the inmates were housed together and whether deputies followed policy in the hours leading up to the slaying, Pippin said.

He declined to say how many deputies were assigned to keep watch on the 192 inmates but said it can be difficult for deputies to see inside cells at night because lights are dimmed so inmates can sleep.

“It could have been something where the deputy turned his head to look at the other pods and something happened completely out of view of the deputy,” Pippin said. “I can assure you this didn’t happen right before their eyes. If that had happened, they’d have intervened right away.”

The slaying is the 13th homicide in the County Jail system since 2000. The Sheriff’s Department was criticized after several of the earlier slayings, including one in which an inmate was able to roam the halls of Men’s Central until he found and killed an inmate who had testified against him.

A year ago, another inmate was slain at Men’s Central while locked in an unsupervised holding room with other inmates held on more serious charges.

Pippin said he believes that Wednesday’s slaying will not prompt such criticism. Both inmates were considered the same security level, he added.

“This is a much different situation. These are two cellmates where unfortunately something terrible happened in there. We just don’t know why he did it and how it happened,” he said.

stuart.pfeifer@latimes.com