ACLU Offers to Drop Jail Suit if Gates Makes Changes

American Civil Liberties Union lawyers told a federal judge that they will drop their claims against the county in a lawsuit over alleged brutality at the Orange County Jail if Sheriff Brad Gates will adopt the major recommendations of a recent report.

The report, written by the court-appointed special master at the jail, Lawrence G. Grossman, recommends that a sergeant be called before force is used to control an inmate or when inmates are moved from one location to another. It also recommends more video equipment to monitor jail operations as a preventive measure if brutality or claims of brutality occur.

“We think it would go a long way toward improving jail conditions if the sheriff were to adopt Grossman’s recommendations,” said Dick Herman, the ACLU’s lead attorney on the federal case.

Grossman also was critical of the way jail deputies search cells and inmates, which sometimes results in injury to inmates. He recommended that the shakedown policy be changed to eliminate any possibility an inmate could be injured.

The ACLU had filed several lawsuits earlier this year for four inmates who claimed they were beaten by jail deputies in elevators at the main men’s jail in Santa Ana, out of sight of other inmates and the jail’s video cameras.

Gates is working on a proposal of his own to the Board of Supervisors in response to Grossman’s report. But even if he adopts Grossman’s recommendations, it will not end the federal lawsuit.

Herman said the defendants still will seek monetary damages. But Herman expects the lawsuit to be certified as a class-action suit, representing all inmates at the jail.

Adoption of the Grossman report would satisfy the class-action claims, Herman said.

Lawyers for the county were unavailable for comment Friday. Gates has refused to discuss the issue until after he has met with the Board of Supervisors.