Jails under scrutiny

Jailhouse chaplain describes alleged inmate beating in court declaration

By Jack Leonard, Richard Winton and Robert Fauterechi

Chap­lain Paulino Juarez, a Cath­ol­ic dea­con, de­scribed wit­ness­ing a beat­ing at the Men’s Cent­ral Jail in Feb­ru­ary 2009.

In a sworn state­ment for the Amer­ic­an Civil Liber­ties Uni­on of South­ern Cali­for­nia, Juarez said he saw Los Angeles County sher­iff’s depu­ties pound­ing an in­mate pressed against the wall. Juarez said he be­lieved the in­mate was hand­cuffed be­cause he nev­er raised his hands to pro­tect his face from the depu­ties’ fists, in­stead shout­ing: “I am do­ing noth­ing wrong; please stop.”

The in­mate, Juarez said, col­lapsed face first. His “body lay limp and merely ab­sorbed their blows” as the depu­ties con­tin­ued kick­ing, the chap­lain said.

Sources: American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California