Lawyers says prison guards allowing fights for entertainment
Thursday, July 25, 2002
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/a/2002/07/25/state0452EDT0033.DTL
(07-25) 01:52 PDT SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- A prisoners' rights attorney claimed in a contempt lawsuit that Orange County jail guards have arranged fights between inmates for their own entertainment. The suit, filed in federal court in Santa Ana against the Orange County Sheriff's Department, claims the alleged activities violate a 1978 federal court order aimed at stemming jail overcrowding. Lawyer Richard Herman claims guards have opened doors between groups of prisoners with opposing gang allegiances, in hopes that they would fight. The suit also alleges that guards hold inmates in cells without mattresses and force them to stand naked. Herman filed paperwork Wednesday that contained written statements by six inmates, one of whom wrote that "guards staged and watched inmate fights." A spokesman for the Sheriff's Department said he could not comment specifically on the claims because the department had not yet received a copy of the suit. However, he did say that Orange County jails were considered to be among the best run in the nation. Herman, who served as the plaintiff attorney as the jails came under federal court review in the 1980s, contends that deputies are routinely disregarding jail policy, resulting in abuses at the jail. ©2002 Associated Press
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