LOS ANGELES (AP) — A commission appointed to investigate Los Angeles County jails said the system has shown a persistent pattern of unnecessary and excessive force and blamed Sheriff Lee Baca for a failure of leadership.
The Citizens' Commission on Jail Violence, a panel made up of several former judges and a police chief, released its final report Friday after a lengthy investigation of the nation's largest county jail system.
The report gives several harsh rebukes to Baca, and commission members said they considered asking him to resign, but instead expressed hope he would carry out the panel's list of more than 60 recommendations.
Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore did not immediately respond to phone messages left by The Associated Press, but told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune the sheriff has shown an abundance of leadership since problems at the jail were revealed, and has already instituted many of the commission's reforms.
