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O.C. to install closed-circuit cameras in jail
The equipment will monitor guard stations and inmate barracks at the Theo Lacy facility in Orange, where a detainee was fatally beaten while a deputy reportedly watched TV.
By Christian Berthelsen, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
3:02 PM PDT, April 15, 2008
Orange County supervisors voted unanimously today to approve $370,000 in emergency funding to install closed-circuit cameras in guard stations and inmate barracks at Theo Lacy jail, after a grand jury report last week disclosed that a jail deputy watched television and exchanged cellphone text messages with friends while an inmate was beaten to death in 2006.
The appropriation was done on an emergency basis to get the cameras installed as quickly as possible. It will allow the county to avoid hurdles, such as seeking competitive bids for the work, that could slow down the process. The system is expected to be installed by the end of June.
"It does create an emergency, in the sense of the risk it poses to inmates and deputies alike," said Mario Mainero, chief of staff to board chairman John Moorlach.
The system is expected to cover all the areas in the F, G and H barracks of Theo Lacy that are not visible from the guard stations. Unlike other areas of the jail, which have traditional cells, in the barracks inmates are allowed to move around more freely.
According to a transcript of the grand jury proceedings, inmates are aware of the blind spots and beat fellow prisoners there. The body of John Derek Chamberlain, who was killed Oct. 5, 2006, by inmates who falsely believed he had been arrested for child molestation, was found in such an area. The closed-circuit system will also include camera coverage of each of the three guard stations in the barracks. The grand jury transcript said deputies sometimes slept or watched DVDs while on duty without fear of getting caught because they developed a system to signal each other when supervisors were coming.
The placement of cameras in guard stations has survived a legal challenge from a deputies union in Sacramento County, Mainero said.
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