FBI PROBES DEATH, BEATINGS

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.

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; 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 wit-nessed Smith's brawl
contacted a civil rights organization, which went public with the
allegations.

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.

The fatal Smith brawl apparently began when the inmate, who is 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.

The 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 depart- ment.

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, Block
revealed.

Sheriff's officials have never revealed the inmate's identity.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry