Inmate challenges prison torture in lawsuit against LA County

Saturday, February 22, 2014 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: prison torture, LA County, lawsuit

(NaturalNews) The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), as well as L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca and 10 LASD officers, is the subject of a new lawsuit alleging horrific abuse and torture that at least one former inmate says took place at Men's Central Jail. Jose Transito Flores says he was tortured and sexually abused while serving time at the prison, according to Courthouse News Service (CNS), and is now seeking damages and punitive damages for constitutional violations and municipal liability.

In January 2010, Flores says he was subjected to intense physical torture at Men's Central Jail that included being raped or otherwise sexually violated by other inmates while officers watched or even encouraged such behavior. According to the suit, Flores was repeatedly targeted by the officers for no apparent reason and subjected to all sorts of physical pain and torture, as were many of his fellow inmates.

"They would take him to the jail cells of the most dangerous inmates, which was an area known as 'High Power,' and allow, encourage and cause other inmates to beat and rape Mr. Transito Flores," reads the suit. "This type of conduct was a custom and practice of the LASD... [and] led to the regular, unnecessary, unconstitutional and unreasonable use of force through punishment and torture of person in LASD custody."

According to CNS, the 10 "Doe" officers named in the suit took Flores from his jail cell no less than seven times during his sentence and subjected him to being raped by "high power" inmates. These same officers also allegedly forced Flores and other inmates to perform sexual acts on the "high power" inmates, including forcing them to administer oral sex.

"They also physically tortured and abused Mr. Transito Flores, resulting in a broken right leg, a broken finger on his right hand, and injuries to his eyes, including the loss of his eyesight," adds the suit.

LASD also abused, tortured California raw 'milk man' James Stewart

As startling as these allegations might seem at first glance, they are hardly unthinkable when considering the fact that California raw "milk man" James Stewart was subjected to similar abuse at a different L.A. County jail. As we previously reported, Stewart was locked up and starved, interrogated, and tortured after being turned in following several raids on his Rawesome Food Club, which was located in Venice, California.

"He survived a 'week of torturous Hell' at the hands of LA County jail keepers who subjected him to starvation, sleep deprivation, hypothermia, loss of blood circulation to [his] extremities, verbal intimidation, involuntary medical testing and even subjected him to over 30 hours of raw biological sewage filth containing dangerous pathogens," wrote Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, in an earlier report.

In case you missed it, you can see for yourself what the L.A. County prison system did to a 65-year-old man who, while he obviously made many poor decisions along the way, was merely trying to escape the forces of evil that were encroaching his freedom to obtain and distribute real food to folks who wanted it:
http://www.naturalnews.com.

Either way, we can only hope that Stewart, Flores and all the others who have suffered at the hands of the LASD in L.A. County jails will get their day in court, literally.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.courthousenews.com

http://www.courthousenews.com

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://www.naturalnews.com