Photo Credit: Eric Leonard (@LeonardFiles)
About two dozen activists rallied outside the Twin Towers jail in Downtown L.A. Friday to demand greater transparency from the L.A. County Sheriff's Department -- following what they say were the suspicious suicides of two inmates.
"Nobody should be able to commit suicide inside a jail cell," said Patrisse Cullors, who founded the group, "Dignity and Power Now."
"The issue for us, is an issue about transparency, it's an issue of accountability," she said.
The demonstrators called on the County Board of Supervisors to move to give the Sheriff's Department's Inspector General's office full legal authority to investigate allegations of law enforcement misconduct -- of which records are usually off-limits under California's unique secrecy laws for police.
They also urged two judges to rule in favor of a move by Sheriff Jim McDonnell to begin sharing with prosecutors a list of deputies with histories of lying, domestic violence, or other lawbreaking.
That plan, first reported by KFI NEWS, has been temporarily stopped by legal action filed by the deputies' union, known as ALADS.
-- Eric Leonard (@LeonardFiles)