The Ongoing Crisis In Men’s Central Jail – Simply Inexcusable

The crisis in LA County Jails is inexcusable.  I represent indigent defendants in Los Angeles.  I’m a former Public Defender and currently take state-appointed cases.  That means I am hired by the county of Los Angeles to represent people who can’t afford to hire an attorney.  All of my clients have been in LA County Jails.  LA County has the largest jail system in the USA, with over 22,000 incarcerated.  Most of my clients have been in “Men’s Central Jail.”

“Men’s Central” is a “Jail.”  It is not a “prison.”  Jails are operated by cities.  They are designed primarily to house those convicted of small crimes – misdemeanors  (which are usually prosecuted by City Attorneys) and people who are awaiting trial.  Prisons, by contrast, are state facilities that house serious offenders, or “Felons.”

Men’s Central Jail presently houses over 7,000 people -- far beyond capacity -- 57% of whom are awaiting trial.  If you have a drink on a Friday, and an officer thinks you might have driven while intoxicated, and you can’t put up a deed and spend $3G - $5G for bail, you might spend the weekend at Men’s Central Jail.

Because California’s state prisons are overcrowded, jails, like Men’s Central Jail, now house the overflow.  So that weekend in Jail would be spent alongside felons who have already served substantial time and conformed to the prison lifestyle.

The ACLU has been calling for the closure of Men’s Central Jail for years.  This month, the Department of Justice stated that the conditions of Men’s Central Jail constituted cruel and unusual punishment, and that they “present, rather then prevent, a risk of suicide.”  (This became international news, with the BBC stunned that this could happen in the United States, and especially in a major metropolitan city like Los Angeles).  This year, Mother Jones Magazine listed Men’s Central Jail first in its list of “10 worst jails in America.”  Twenty-one Los Angeles County Sheriffs have been indicted in federal court for allegations of civil rights violations in LA Jails, and primarily in Men’s Central Jail.  One trial is going on now.  It involves allegations that the Deputies interfered with a federal investigation into abuse at Men’s Central.  One of the FBI informants was an inmate at Men’s Central Jail.  In that trial, one of the defendant Deputies has admitted that, upon learning that the inmate was an FBI informant, the deputies purposefully hid that inmate from the FBI.

         Hopefully, you won’t ever spend a day in Men’s Central Jail.  And neither will those that you care for.  But it could happen.  And Men’s Central Jail is but one example of how we treat people accused of crimes.  The punishment inflicted on one who has been accused of a crime should not be worse than that inflicted on one who has been convicted of one.  And as a modern nation, we need to ensure that punishment is just, and that “cruel and unusual” conditions are the rare embarrassing exception, not the daily occurrence happening in downtown Los Angeles. 

6 Los Angeles Deputies On Trial For Misconduct At Men’s Central Jail – Jury Should Get The Case Tomorrow

Twenty-One Los Angeles Sheriff Deputies have been indicted in federal court on charges of obstruction of justice and other civil rights violations.  One trial – involving six of the deputies – is coming to a close.  Arguments have been made and the jury is expected to have the case on Thursday, June 26. 

This first case involves allegations that deputies purposefully hid Anthony Brown from the FBI, after learning that he was an informant for the FBI in an investigation of the conditions of Men’s Central Jail.  According to Victoria Kim of the Los Angeles Times, “Lt. Greg Thompson and deputies Gerard Smith and Mickey Manzo allegedly moved federal informant Anthony Brown around in the jails, including the infectious disease wing, keeping him hidden under false names when both his FBI handlers and the U.S. Marshals Service, with a grand jury writ, were looking for him. Craig, Sgt. Maricela Long and Lt. Stephen Leavins are accused of telling witnesses not to cooperate with the FBI and threatening to arrest an FBI agent, falsely telling her there was an impending warrant.”  (The full article can be read here:  http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-deputy-trial-20140624-story.html).

The defense is arguing that these were simply “worker bees” following orders.  This “Nuremburg Defense” is not recognized in law.  And the U.S. Attorney who is trying the case – Brandon Fox – stated so in his rebuttal argument, arguing that “To the extent that they're ever charged, that's for another jury, another day.”

This defense may help sway a juror who doesn’t want to hold a law enforcement officer accountable for misconduct.  But at a minimum, we need to hold those who arrest others to the same standards as those they arrest. 

Washington Post Addresses New Movement To Include Public Defenders and Other Defense Lawyers For The Indigent From Politics

Compassion apparently has no place in politics.

Journalist Philip Bump, of The Washington Post, authored an article titled “Why being a public defender is increasingly bad for your political future” (link here:  http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/06/17/why-being-a-public-defender-is-increasingly-bad-for-your-political-future/) discusses attacks on political candidates who, at one time, represented indigent clients on court-appointed cases.  These lawyers include Hillary Clinton.  Typically, these lawyers make between 10% - 20% of what their work would be valued in the private sector, and take this work out of a belief that an imbalanced legal system is a failed one. 

The author writes: 

Congressional Research Service compiled data on the composition of the 113th Congress earlier this year. Congress includes more than  200 members that have a background in practicing law, including "7 former judges (all in the House), and 32 prosecutors ... who have served in city, county, state, federal, or military capacities." Prosecutors get to run on their record of putting criminals away. Defenders don't. A search of the House's historic database of information on members turns up five members of the House since 2000 who list work as public defenders in their biographies. One is no longer in Congress. Another later worked as a prosecutor.

Steve Benjamin, former president of the National Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers, stated that “It should never be that an attorney who fulfills his constitutional and ethical obligation to represent a person who is criminally accused faces a question about that attorney's character or qualifications for any office.”  And Republican Charlie Condon, the former attorney general of South Carolina, called such attacks on candidates "fundamentally wrong", stating “The basis of our whole constitutional system is that it's a noble calling, it's a really positive profession, positive calling, to be a lawyer and particularly a criminal defense lawyer."

I am a former Deputy Public Defender for the County of Los Angeles.  It is a badge I wear with honor.  Allowing our society, as a whole, to let someone be subjected to the criminal justice process -- without the aid of a competent advocate -- would be, collectively, more horrible than what any individual can do.  Innocent people would be convicted.  Some executed.  Sentences would be unfairly doled out.  And the poor of our country would be treated completely differently than the rich, to a much greater extent than is already the case.  

There are lawyers who are willing to forego personal gain, and try to make sure that justice is administrated properly to everyone.  They protect us all from acting like savages.  They should be applauded for their work – certainly more than those who chose to make much more money discussing money, like corporate attorneys, or putting people away without ever talking to them, like prosecutors and judges.  

I hope the day comes when a prosecutor is running for office, and someone plays a ridiculous closing argument they made, filled with inflammatory language that bears nothing to the facs, or shows a cruel streak of sentencing offers, and the public says “no way can he be in charge – he is an animal.”  

Editorial Board Of LA Times Proposes L.A. County Surrender Control Of Its Jails

A June 6 report by the Department of Justice stated that the conditions of LA County Jails were “deplorable,” and that the conditions “present, rather than prevent, a risk of suicide” for mentally-ill inmates.  Today, the Editorial Board of the LA Times called for consideration of surrender of control of those facilities to the federal government.  The Opinion Piece, available here -- http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-jail-20140608-story.html -- states that “…for nearly two decades, the county has moved at an unnecessarily glacial pace in responding to long-standing concerns about poor treatment of incarcerated people who more properly should have been treated as patients in medical and mental health treatment facilities” and that “The sheriff and the supervisors ought to think seriously about accepting the inevitable and working with the Justice Department — more closely than ever — to offer more effective and more humane mental health care to people who need treatment more than they need punishment.”

First Episode of Wallach-On-Law (Talk Show on Criminal Justice Reform)

Today on Wallach-On-Law we discussed current criminal cases and the DOJ Report on LA County Jails.  We welcomed Pete Mills, attorney and Chief Trial Counsel of the Florida Public Defender’s office, to discuss the the Supreme Court decision in Florida v. Hall (striking down Florida's rigid adherence to an IQ score to determine if one is sufficiently competent to be executed).  We were also joined by Chad Curlett of Levine Curlett (www.levincurlett.com) to discuss the recent Department of Justice Policy Memo calling for all federal agents to electronically record interviews. 

Listen to the June 9, 2014 Episode of Wallach-On-Law here:  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wallachlaw/2014/06/09/wallach-on-law-featuring--charles-n-curlett-jr-peter-mills