Deputies in girls’s jail groped and harassed inmates and watched them bathe, lawsuit by 38 former prisoners claims | EUROtoday

A bunch of present and former inmates within the Los Angeles County girls’s jail are suing, alleging that male employees watched them bathe, harassed them, and groped them whereas below their care.

The lawsuit claims that LA County sheriff’s deputies on the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood abused their energy and took benefit of the inmates of their custody.

According to an evaluation performed by the LA Timesinmates on the jail have made almost 600 allegations of sexual abuse or harassment in opposition to its employees since 2021. None have been referred to the LA County district lawyer’s workplace for potential prosecution, the paper discovered.

The lawsuit is being introduced by the Cochran Firm on behalf of the inmates. Brian Dunn, a managing associate on the agency, instructed the LA Times that dozens of inmates concerned with the case shared their tales of “brazen” sexual abuse and harassment by the hands of the jail employees.

“It seemed to be happening with such frequency that it was like a practice. … This is something that has been accepted,” he instructed the paper. “It’s heartbreaking for me to hear these women crying and the only thing you can do is sue.”

The Independent has requested remark from the LA County Sheriff’s Department.

In an announcement to the LA Times responding to the lawsuit, the division stated it was launching a evaluate of the abuse complaints to ensure they’re topic to “appropriate investigative and administrative processes.”

“The safety, dignity, and constitutional rights of every individual in our custody remain our top priority,” the division stated in its assertion. “We are committed to transparent operations, thorough investigations, and maintaining the highest standards of professional conduct.”

The lawsuit contains quite a few examples of alleged abuses. In one part, the lawsuit alleges that male correctional officers incessantly watched feminine inmates bathe for extended intervals of time.

It additional alleges that male guards allegedly “press their crotches against the handcuffed hands of the female inmates” whereas escorting them, and “intentionally fondle the inmates’ hips, buttocks, and bodies in a sexual manner.”

According to the lawsuit, male correctional officers allegedly hold the bathe water at “near-scalding level” which causes the feminine inmates to maneuver rapidly and erratically whereas showering to keep away from being burned. The lawsuit claims the officers do that deliberately because it “typically leads to the feminine inmates’ breasts jiggling and wiggling demonstrably in full view of the male correctional officers” watching from an adjacent area.

The lawsuit names LA County Sheriff Robert Luna, three previous sheriffs, and a dozen staff members. Two of the staff members are still working in the county’s jails. One is currently employed at the Men’s Central Jail and another is still working at Lynwood, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.

The complaint alleges that one of the defendants worked as a Prison Rape Elimination Act compliance manager at Lynwood.

The sheriff’s department said in a statement that it has a “zero-tolerance coverage in the direction of any for of sexual abuse or harassment inside its amenities” and that it takes ‘all allegations of sexual misconduct, abuse of authority, and violations of Department policy extremely seriously.”