Document: More San Bernardino County jail deputies under investigation for alleged inmate abuse

SAN BERNARDINO >> In addition to four sheriff’s deputies who already have lost their jobs at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, the FBI and sheriff officials are investigating several other deputies in the San Bernardino County jail system for alleged inmate abuse, according to a document obtained Saturday by this newspaper.

The document, consisting of minutes from an internal Sheriff’s Department staff meeting distributed Wednesday, revealed that one employee had resigned, two or three were going to be terminated as a result of an FBI investigation, and several other deputies were still under investigation.

The FBI is investigating possible civil-rights violations of inmates at the center in March, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said Friday.

She said the case will ultimately be submitted to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles for consideration of criminal charges.

As of Thursday, four deputies assigned to West Valley Detention Center were no longer employed by the department, but according to the document, several more employees also may be terminated, pending the outcome of the investigation by the FBI and Sheriff’s Department.

Sheriff’s spokesman Randy Naquin said Saturday he couldn’t comment due to the nature of the investigation.

“The Sheriff commended the fine work 99 percent of our employees are doing,” according to the document.

On Saturday, sheriff’s officials declined to comment on allegations of misconduct at the other county jails.

“What was indicated in the press release is all the information we have,” Naquin said. “We currently have no information about incidents occurring at any other facility.”

Sheriff John McMahon ordered an administrative investigation after allegations surfaced March 5 about the possible abuse of inmates at the Rancho Cucamonga jail, according to a sheriff’s news release on Friday.

“I will not tolerate any misconduct by department personnel,” McMahon said in a statement. “These allegations are being taken very seriously and this department is determined to get answers.”

The news comes in the wake of a jail abuse scandal in Los Angeles County in which 18 current or former sheriff’s deputies have been accused of abusing inmates at the Men’s Central Jail.

U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said the alleged incidents did “not occur in a vacuum” and that the pattern of behavior of which the defendants are accused had become “institutionalized.”

via: http://www.sbsun.com/general-news/20140412/document-more-san-bernardino-county-jail-deputies-under-investigation-for-alleged-inmate-abuse

San Bernardino County sheriff gets approval to seek grant for jail upgrades

The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gave the Sheriff’s Department the green light to apply for an $80 million grant from the state to construct new housing units at the Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center in Devore.

The Sheriff’s Department plans to demolish two housing units at the 53-year-old jail and replace them with three new housing units comprising 512 beds and a visitors’ center. They will accommodate an intensive 18-month education/counseling program to help prepare inmates for life on the outside once they are released from custody.

Design and planning for the $109.9 million project is expected to span throughout 2014, and construction should last three years, from May 2015 to May 2018, according to the grant proposal presented to supervisors.

The Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center, built in 1960 as a maximum security work camp, is the oldest jail in the county and one of nine detention facilities. To accommodate the influx of inmates under Public Safety Realignment, the county has been seeking funding to assist in upgrades at its existing jails and construction of the Adelanto Detention Center, currently under way.

In June 2012, SB 1022 became law. It allowed the state to set aside a $500 million pot for counties to dip into, via application, to assist in jail construction and upgrades necessitated by realignment. The Sheriff’s Department is requesting the $80 million from the pot.

The county will chip in $26 million-plus for the project and another $3.9 million will come from in-kind contributions.

Glen Helen is not the only project under way in the county to increase bed space and improve efficiency. Projects are also under way to expand the Adelanto Detention Center by more than 1,000 beds and to bring some housing units at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Since awarding the Adelanto Detention Center construction contract in December 2010, there have been 20 amendments and change orders to the contract. Initially projected by the county to cost $144 million to build, bids for the project subsequently came in at $120 million, so the budget was adjusted to reflect that amount, county spokesman David Wert said.

Unforeseen glitches in the smoke detection and sprinkler system and other project snafus, however, caused costs to climb, and now the budget is back to $144 million and is not expected to surpass that, Wert said.

The Board of Supervisors also approved Tuesday increasing the budget for the West Valley Detention Center project by $2.3 million, bringing the cost from $2 million to $4.3 million.

The project will bring eight of 15 housing units at the jail into ADA compliance and address accessibility issues in specific inmate cells, showers, day rooms and recreation yards, according to a report prepared for county supervisors.

via http://www.sbsun.com/general-news/20131008/san-bernardino-county-sheriff-gets-approval-to-seek-grant-for-jail-upgrades