Los Angeles County will pay $2.8 million to a former jail inmate who was severely beaten after other inmates learned he was an accused child molester, says the Los Angeles Times. It is the most the county has paid in a lawsuit involving a jail attack. Jose Beas, 41, contended that sheriff’s employees endangered him by placing him in a dormitory with 80 inmates instead of isolating him as policy required.
Beas, a machinist, was a part-time soccer referee who volunteered at his children’s school. He was arrested in 2003 and charged with molesting a 5-year-old girl that his wife was baby-sitting. Charges against him were dismissed because of the extent of his injuries. Sheriff Lee Baca said his department had taken many steps in recent years to improve jail security. He said ensuring the safety of all inmates is difficult. The department processes nearly 200,000 inmates a year and is responsible for moving thousands each day to and from court, the exercise yard, and medical visits. The Beas case brings the total the county paid to inmates injured in custody to more than $9 million since 2004.
Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-inmate20dec20,1,2450104.story?coll=la-headlines-california