Crime

OIG Report Raises Concerns About Overcrowded Jails, Lack of Care

LOS ANGELES SENTINEL — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors postponed discussion of a report by the Office of Inspector General.

Published

6 years ago

March 5, 2019

Oakland Post

By Elizabeth Marcellino

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors postponed discussion of a report by the Office of Inspector General that raises concerns about overcrowded jails, poor quality of medical and mental health care for inmates and the persistence of dangerous social cliques in the Sheriff’s Department.

While none of those issues are new, the OIG report released this month highlights uncertainty about how effective Sheriff Alex Villanueva will be in tackling the problems.

One question is how cooperative the new sheriff plans to be in sharing information with the watchdog agency.

“Upon the new sheriff being elected, this office made a formal request to be notified of any action on ‘truth and reconciliation,’ the term the sheriff has used to describe his planned desire to rehire some deputies who have been fired for dishonesty or other misconduct, so that we could monitor the process. As of December 31, 2018, the Office of Inspector General has received no response,” according to the report.

The sheriff has already reinstated one deputy — a man who helped Villanueva win his post — who was terminated because of allegations of domestic violence and stalking and then lost an appeal to the Civil Service Commission.

Villanueva’s unilateral move drew harsh criticism last month from the Board of Supervisors, which asked county lawyers to figure out what recourse was available.

The sheriff, uncowed, said at the time there were a half-dozen similar cases that he planned to pursue, assuring board members they would agree with him once they heard the details.

As for secret cliques within the department, the OIG’s report took a more optimistic tack, saying Villanueva could be a catalyst for solving a decades-long problem.

“This failure has been going on for fifty years and is not the fault of any one sheriff or of the employees of the department. However, because we have a new administration, we have an opportunity to resolve the problem permanently now,” the report states. “The department should consult with deputy unions and the (Civilian Oversight Commission) and implement a policy prohibiting membership in organizations which advocate violation of laws, policy and civil rights or which conceal their nature and membership.”

Under former sheriff Jim McDonnell, the department took steps to shut down clubs in the custody division but stopped short of department-wide action, according to the OIG, which described a “centrally organized code of silence” among deputies. As evidence, it notes that despite multiple ongoing internal investigations, “this office believes that the number of deputies who have been asked to date about the membership of these groups or their nature is zero.”

The OIG report covers the period from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, so many of its findings about use-of-force data and in-custody deaths predate Villanueva’s term, which began Dec. 3.

It offers a stark assessment of jail overcrowding.

“Our jails contain too many prisoners to be properly run by the number of staff, custody and medical, assigned to them,” the report states.

That results in an increasing use of force — though the OIG also says department data on use-of-force incidents is unreliable – inadequate inmate welfare, and breakdowns in medical and mental health care. Examples cited include chaining mentally ill individuals to benches in the Inmate Reception Center for prolonged periods of time and women inmates being forced to wear paper underwear for two months because of a mix-up in ordering supplies.

There were six inmate deaths during the three months under review.

Three involved inmates of the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, most of whom had some medical or mental health issues, and one of those three was described as a suicide. None were related to a use-of-force incident, according to the OIG, which said it was concerned about the quality of care and poor coordination between jail guards and health care personnel.

There was some good news. Deputies involved in multiple shootings have been under increased scrutiny and some have been removed from the field. In 2016, 34 percent of deputies involved in shootings had been involved in one or more previous shootings. In 2017, that ratio dropped to 19 percent and in 2018 to 3 percent. There were four deputy-involved shootings during the three months in question, three of which involved armed suspects and none of which appeared to result in a fatality.

The report also provided use-of-force data, but with so many caveats that it is hard to draw conclusions beyond the report’s statement that incidents are on the rise. However, the OIG and court monitors have previously said that the kind of bone-breaking violence seen during Sheriff Lee Baca’s tenure and leading to lawsuits and federal oversight is now a very rare occurrence.

Villanueva has reported dramatic increases in the use of force as well as inmate attacks on deputies to challenge the success of reforms instituted by McDonnell. The OIG and others have challenged the accuracy of that data and raised concerns that the numbers will be used to justify rolling back changes.

This article originally appeared in the Los Angeles Sentinel.

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Bo Tefu

California Assembly Passes Bill to Strengthen Penalties for Soliciting Minors

The revised version of Assembly Bill 379, authored by Assemblymember Maggy Krell (D-Sacramento), now allows prosecutors to file felony charges against adults who solicit sex from a 16 or 17-year-old, provided the accused is three or more years older than the minor. If the offender is within three years of the minor, the charge would remain a misdemeanor.

Published

6 days ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

The California State Assembly has agreed to amend a controversial bill that would increase penalties for adults who solicit sex from minors ages 16 or 17, following a wave of criticism from Republicans and concerns raised by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“From a prosecutor’s standpoint, this bill strengthens California law and gives us the felony hammer to prosecute the creeps that are preying on teenagers,” Krell said in a statement supporting the amended bill.

The new amendments also include provisions for a state grant program aimed at improving the prosecution of human trafficking and sex trafficking cases, as well as a support fund for survivors partially funded by increased fines on businesses that enable or fail to address human trafficking.

The bill faced significant opposition last week after the Assembly removed a provision that would have treated solicitation of 16 and 17-year-olds as a felony for all offenders.

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Activism

BOOK REVIEW: The Afterlife of Malcolm X

Betty Shabazz didn’t like to go to her husband’s speeches, but on that February night in 1965, he asked her to come with their daughters to the Audubon Ballroom in New York. Did Malcolm X sense that something bad would happen on that night? Surely. He was fully aware of the possibility, knowing that he’d been “a marked man” for months because of his very public break with the Nation of Islam.

Published

6 days ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Book Cover of the Afterlife of Malcolm X. Courtesy of Simon & Schuster.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Author: by Mark Whitaker, c.2025, Simon & Schuster, $30.99, 448 pages

Who will remember you in fifty years’ time?

A handful of friends – at least those who are still around – might recall you. Your offspring, grandkids, and greats, maybe people who stumble upon your tombstone. Think about it: who will remember you in 2075? And then read “The Afterlife of Malcolm X” by Mark Whitaker and learn about a legacy that still resonates a half-century later.

As the news of his murder spread around New York and around the world, his followers and admirers reacted in many ways. His friend, journalist Peter Goldman, was “hardly shocked” because he also knew that Malcolm’s life was in danger, but the arrest of three men accused of the crime didn’t add up. It ultimately became Goldman’s “obsession.”

Malcolm’s co-writer for The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Alex Haley, quietly finished the book he started with Malcolm, and a small upstart publishing house snatched it up. A diverse group of magazines got in line to run articles about Malcolm X’s life, finally sensing that White America “’needed his voice even more than Blacks did.’”

But though Malcolm X was gone, he continued to leave an impact.

He didn’t live long enough to see the official founding of the Black Panther Party, but he was influential on its beginning. He never knew of the first Kwanzaa, or the triumphs of a convert named Muhammad Ali.

Malcolm left his mark on music. He influenced at least three major athletes.

He was a “touchstone” for a president …

While it’s true that “The Afterlife of Malcolm X” is an eye-opening book, one that works as a great companion to the autobiography, it’s also a fact that it’s somewhat scattered. Is it a look at Malcolm’s life, his legacy, or is it a “murder mystery”?

Turns out, it’s all three, but the storylines are not smooth. There are twists and tangents and that may take some getting used-to. Just when you’re immersed, even absorbed in this book, to the point where you forget about your surroundings, author Mark Whitaker abruptly moves to a different part of the story. It may be jarring.

And yet, it’s a big part of this book, and it’s essential for readers to know the investigation’s outcome and what we know today. It doesn’t change Malcolm X’s legacy, but it adds another frame around it.

If you’ve read the autobiography, if you haven’t thought about Malcolm X in a while, or if you think you know all there is to know, then you owe it to yourself to find “The Afterlife of Malcolm X.”

For you, this is a book you won’t easily forget.

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Bay Area

Grand Jury: Richmond Police Short-staffed Amid Budget Cuts, Council Inaction

In recent years, RPD was described as severely understaffed in two independent reports, one by Raftelis Financial Consulting (2024) and another by Matrix Consulting Group (2023). Raftelis recommended the hiring of 27 more officers and Matrix recommended hiring 30. Despite these findings, “neither report has been fully discussed by the City Council in a public meeting,” the Grand Jury report notes.

Published

6 days ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

RPD headquarters. Courtesy image.

The Richmond Standard

A newly released Contra Costa County Civil Grand Jury report raised concerns about public safety in Richmond caused by an understaffed police department.

The Grand Jury ultimately recommended that the Richmond City Council reverse its actions to defund the Richmond Police Department, which remains below the approved level of 146 sworn officers with a current vacancy of 23 officers, according to the report.

In 2014, when the RPD under Chief Chris Magnus gained national recognition for implementing a community policing model that drove down crime, the department boasted 196 sworn officers.

Meanwhile, crime is on the rise. While homicides were down from 18 in 2021 to 11 in 2024, violent crimes overall jumped 22.6% in that time. Robbery and aggravated assault both increased by nearly 20%, with sexual assaults up 21%, according to the grand jury report’s findings.

Those numbers are likely higher since RPD’s limited staffing means police are unable to respond to all calls for service, according to RPD authorities.

The Grand Jury report noted a pivotal moment for the police department occurred in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020.

Jumping aboard a national trend to defund police, the City Council, led by the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA), reallocated $3 million away from the RPD budget, leading to downsizing or elimination of RPD’s specialized investigative units.

The funds were redirected to support the YouthWORKS Program, unhoused services, the Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS), and a new alternative non-police community response team.

The latter strategy, known as the Community Crisis Response Program (CCRP), aims to reduce the number of calls to dispatch that require a law enforcement response. But the program has yet to be fully implemented and is being challenged by the RPD’s union, which takes issue with CCRP employees becoming members of SEIU Local 1021, a separate city union that routinely helps to elect RPA members to the City Council.

The Grand Jury recommends that the city use a portion of the $550 million Chevron settlement funds to hire and retain more officers. The City Council recently expressed interest in using those funds to address the city’s unfunded pension liabilities. To read the full, 10-page Grand Jury report, go to https://www.cc-courts.org/civil/docs/grandjury/2024-2025/2503/2503-DiminishingFundsandFewerOfficers.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawKR1AVleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFxeW1vUTFXNWNWazZCZmxIAR6FJYmFEfK098FXFhC4lvSCMSbHr5aEVno_sZqukzhZKI9iEvsu8kr_KoKX6g_aem_Xp15VG4_irpJqDWBcAI7-g