Riverside County Report Questions Jail Practices
Riverside County jailers who subdued inmates by force did not provide medical aid in some cases, frequently filed inaccurate reports and often couldn’t produce required videotapes of the incidents, according to a recently completed grand jury report.
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to review the three-page report today, and county officials will have 90 days to respond to the presiding judge of the Superior Court.
The Riverside County Grand Jury randomly reviewed an undisclosed number of records from the county’s five jails in what was described as a routine investigation.
The grand jury found that many reports on the correctional deputies’ use of force were incomplete or inaccurate, with discrepancies in dates and details, and supervisors did not always address the inconsistencies.
Also, inmates exposed to pepper spray did not always receive first aid, according to the grand jury report.
Video recordings of many incidents were missing, though they are supposed to be kept for more than five years, the grand jury reported.
The report also criticized jail officials for sloppy paperwork on inmate transfers.
“We’ve received the report and we have tremendous respect for the work of the grand jury,†said Riverside County Undersheriff Neil D. Lingle.
“We plan to review that report with scrutiny and respond within the prescribed timeline.â€
Because the report doesn’t specify how many jail records were reviewed by the grand jury, officials “don’t know whether it’s isolated things or symptomatic of a larger issue,†said Bob Buster, chairman of the Board of Supervisors.
“It’s part of a picture,†Buster said.
“It may not be all of it. We need to get the entire picture here.â€
Pat McNamara, president of the Riverside Sheriffs Assn., was unfamiliar with the report and declined to comment.
To guard the county’s estimated 3,300 inmates, the corrections division employs 1,064 people and has an annual budget of $107 million, the report said.
The grand jury’s findings are not legally binding.
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