Los Angeles Sheriffs Department on a routine basis has been using unreasonable force in jailsMadison Ruppert, Contributor This is the same department looking at operating drones over Los Angeles, even though drones are already being operated domestically by the U.S. military in concert with law enforcement, and the same department whose deputies have actually detained people and accused them of being in league with al Qaeda simply for taking pictures. Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies are responsible for horrific head injuries, such as broken orbital bones and deep cuts on the face and head, which often send inmates to the hospital, according to the ACLU of Southern Californias report which includes 64 sworn statements from former and current inmates and civilian eyewitnesses compiled since 2009. The report is entitled Sheriff Bacas Strike Force: Deputy Violence and Head Injuries of Inmates in LA County Jails focuses on attacks in which the deputies targeted the inmates heads. An ACLU news release also gets into the Rosas v. Baca case filed in March against the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department in an attempt to force the reform of county jails. Along with the 64 sworn statements, the report includes corroborating documentation including photographs, medical records for 12 of those cases along with the opinion of Steve Martin, a former correctional officer and nationally recognized expert in corrections. The Sheriffs Department regularly claims that these incidents are a result of inmate aggression, but the ACLU says that still does not justify the practice. Even if you take the Sheriffs Department at its word, theres a difference between reasonable force and unreasonable force. And the Sheriffs Department on a routine basis has been using unreasonable force, said Peter Eliasberg, the ACLU of Southern Californias legal director, according to the Los Angeles Times. Eliasbergs point is quite valid, especially when one realizes that the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department has had a policy in place for two decades which states that deputies may not intentionally strike inmates heads unless they are in danger and the specific circumstances justify the use of deadly force. According to the Los Angeles Times, Department monitors, however, have said the departments commitment to enforcing that policy has wavered. The policy was also updated in the last year to also include forcefully bringing an inmates head into contact with a hard object like a wall or jail bars. Yet the disturbing abuses appear to continue unabated with the ACLU report stating, Deputies have stomped on inmates heads, even after shackling those inmates hands. They have bashed inmates faces into concrete walls, the report continued. They have fractured inmates facial bones. The accounts of the abuse handed out by the jailers is nothing short of horrific including one inmate who reported that a deputy kicked him in the head and jaw multiple times while he was on the floor. He was kicking me so hard that I saw a pool of my own blood on the floor, wrote the inmate. The timing of the release of the ACLUs report on September 26, 2012 is quite interesting given that a final report by a county commission tasked with investigating allegations of abuses in jails is slated to be released on September 27, 2012. It will be quite interesting to see if the findings of the county commission line up with those of the ACLU of Southern California but personally Im not betting on it. Please support our work and help us start to pay contributors by doing your shopping through our Amazon link or check out some must-have products at our store. This article first appeared at End the Lie. linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 