ALLEGED BEATINGS SPUR INVESTIGATIONS AT JAIL

L.A. Facility Plays Role In Sheriff's Race

LOS ANGELES -- Nancy Canzoneri drove to the sleek, new jail on the edge of
downtown one Monday morning to visit her boyfriend, Danny Ray Smith, a
convicted drug addict who was awaiting a court hearing for carrying a gun.

When Canzoneri approached the front desk at the imposing Twin Towers
Correctional Facility, she was told Smith had died in a brawl with deputies
two days earlier. Shocked by his death and angry they weren't told about
it, Canzoneri and the inmate's family hired a lawyer to get some answers.

Another Beating

Since the Aug. 1 incident, another alleged inmate beating has surfaced at
Twin Towers -- this time at the hands of a ``posse'' of renegade deputies
- -- prompting the FBI to investigate the jail.

And last year, the lockup was cited by the U.S. Department of Justice for
civil rights violations in its treatment of mentally ill inmates.

Twin Towers is one of the most advanced municipal jails in America.
Completed last year for $373 million, the high-rise, high-tech center is
spare, almost antiseptic inside. Unlike most jails, there is no stench.

Its 4,500 male and female inmates reside in cells with windows -- many with
city views. There are no bars, and each cell has a metal door that slides
open and shut electronically. Each door has a Plexiglas window.

So What's The Trouble With Twin Towers?

Critics claim the alleged beatings reflect a nonchalant attitude toward
inmates among the top brass of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department,
responsible for running the nation's largest municipal jail system.

``Police think they have a license to brutalize in the name of law and
order,'' said James Lafferty, president of the local branch of the National
Lawyers Guild and frequent critic of the department. ``But innocent people
are being hurt and killed and brutalized.''

Lafferty and others insist such abuse by L.A. deputies is rampant -- and
not just at Twin Towers. The only reason it is getting attention now, they
say, is because inmates who witnessed Smith's brawl contacted a civil
rights organization, which went public with the allegations.

``It got out to the press as soon as it happened,'' said Leo Terrell, the
Smith family's lawyer, noting the public doesn't usually get ``the full
story'' for several months. ``Then they say, `So what? They deserved it.'
But people have to remember, everyone in jail is not guilty.''

In 1997, the sheriff's department paid $5.5 million in settlements for
police misconduct, according to Merrick Bobb, who monitors the department
for the county board of supervisors. The four most expensive settlements,
costing a combined $2.1 million, involved excessive force.

Prisoner brutality has become an issue in the Nov. 3 election as former
sheriff's chief Lee Baca tries to unseat incumbent Sheriff Sherman Block,
who has led the nation's third largest law enforcement agency for 16 years.

In a recent debate, Baca said he believes the violence stems from
under-staffing, overcrowding and lack of training among newer deputies.
Block said he stands behind his deputies, pending their investigations.

The fatal Smith brawl apparently began when the inmate, who was black,
protested that his cell mate was Hispanic and not black.

Officials said at first that Smith was not handcuffed during the
altercation. Later they changed their story and admitted Smith's hands had
been restrained.

Ruled a Homicide

The Los Angeles County coroner ruled his death a homicide because he was
forced to the ground and held in a position where he probably suffocated.
He also suffered brain swelling, wounds from a blunt object and a spinal
cord fracture. Although the coroner's office said Smith's existing heart
condition caused him to die, Terrell said the findings prove deputies beat
Smith to death.

``There is an attempt to cover up the case,'' said the lawyer, who has
filed a $65 million civil lawsuit against the department on behalf of the
family.

Three of the deputies involved have been reassigned to other jobs during
the investigation, Block said.

In the Twin Towers ``posse'' incident, which occurred Aug. 10, an inmate in
the mental ward was beaten so severely that flashlight marks and boot
prints were left on his body, fellow inmates said.

The perpetrators were a group of rogue deputies who believed mentally ill
inmates were being coddled by the system, Block revealed later.