There hasn\u2019t been a \u201csubstantiated\u201d allegation of sexual abuse by staff against an inmate in the nation\u2019s largest jail system since 2021.<\/p>\n
At first glance, the statistic \u2014 based on Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department data \u2014 might appear to indicate that a federal law called the Prison Rape Elimination Act has finally accomplished its mission more than two decades after it was enacted by Congress.<\/p>\n
But a broad array of local oversight officials and advocacy groups are raising eyebrows over the claim, and bringing new scrutiny to how the Sheriff\u2019s Department investigates allegations of sexual abuse made by inmates against their jailers. <\/p>\n
L.A. County incarcerates about 13,000 people \u2014 including roughly 1,500 women \u2014 throughout its network of jails watched over by sheriff\u2019s deputies. <\/p>\n
Sheriff\u2019s Department records show that between January 2022 and September 2025, inmates filed 592 allegations of abuse and harassment against staff. None were deemed \u201csubstantiated,\u201d which the Sheriff\u2019s Department defines on its website as \u201can allegation that was investigated and determined to have occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n
The suggestion that there has not been enough evidence to support even one alleged incident by staff against an inmate in nearly four years has struck some tasked with monitoring the Sheriff\u2019s Department as absurd.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have this many complaints and you have zero that are founded, there is something wrong with the process,\u201d said George B. Newhouse, a member of the L.A. Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission.<\/p>\n
L.A. County\u2019s Office of Inspector General and advocacy groups, including the Anti-Recidivism Coalition and Peace Over Violence, also shared concerns about the lack of substantiated allegations during a Nov. 4 virtual discussion of the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, or PREA. The law was enacted in 2003 in an effort to reduce widespread sexual abuse behind bars. <\/p>\n
In 2012, the federal government instituted a set of rules known as PREA standards, which laid out steps that jail and prison operators are required to take to prevent and reduce sexual abuse and harassment between inmates and staff.<\/p>\n
L.A. County Sheriff\u2019s Department Sgt. Ryan Vaccaro said the department \u201chas zero tolerance for sexual abuse and sexual harassment.\u201d He added that monthly town hall meetings are held in jails to educate inmates about PREA and record any questions and complaints they have about the federal standards.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur team is dedicated to ensuring our residents know we have a zero-tolerance policy and know how to get help when they need it,\u201d he said. \u201cAll PREA allegations are documented and processed promptly, thoroughly and objectively.\u201d<\/p>\n
During a public meeting last month, Hans Johnson, the chair of the Civilian Oversight Commission, pressed John Barkley, assistant director and PREA coordinator at the Sheriff\u2019s Department, to explain the lack of substantiated reports, and how long it typically takes for allegations to be investigated. <\/p>\n
Dozens of the harassment and abuse claims identified in the sheriff\u2019s department records are listed as \u201cpending,\u201d which the department defines on its website as an \u201callegation still under investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt kind of beggars credulity that that number of complaints could be raised and that none could be substantiated,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a red flag.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barkley said \u201cevery case is investigated\u201d and found to be either \u201csubstantiated, unsubstantiated or unfounded.\u201d He said \u201cevery situation is different. The thing that we\u2019re mandated to do is to do the investigation promptly and to do it thoroughly.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement a colleague read aloud at the Nov. 4 forum, Portland, Ore., resident Frank Mendoza said that while he was incarcerated at L.A.\u2019s Twin Towers Correctional Facility in 2006, \u201cofficers at the jail repeatedly harassed me because I was openly gay\u201d and one beat and raped him in his cell.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was then left in the cell naked, bloodied, and completely humiliated,\u201d Mendoza said in his statement. \u201cI tried to report what happened. First, I told the officer on the next shift who found me on the floor of my cell, and all he did was order me to get dressed. That was the norm. Officers didn\u2019t tell on one another.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mendoza alleged he wasn\u2019t provided medical treatment or examined for injuries caused by the assault. When he reported the rape, he found that \u201cwithout a forensic exam, it was impossible to build a criminal case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, Mendoza gives voice to other people who have been victims of sexual abuse and harassment while incarcerated through his advocacy work as a member of Just Detention International\u2019s Survivor Council.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s clear the county still has a lot of work to do to ensure the safety of people in detention,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the same time, the fact that such a hearing is happening is evidence to me of a culture shift and that people are listening.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sheriff\u2019s Department also tracks inmate-on-inmate allegations, which accounted for 296 reports of sexual abuse or harassment between January 2022 and June 2025. Of those, 28 were classified as \u201csubstantiated.\u201d <\/p>\n
The numbers have spiked since then, with 82 inmate-on-inmate allegations between July and September 2025. Of those claims, the department deemed five involving sexual abuse to be \u201csubstantiated,\u201d along with another five claims of sexual harassment.<\/p>\n
During that three-month period, inmates made 121 sexual abuse and harassment claims against staff, none of which have been identified as \u201csubstantiated\u201d by the Sheriff\u2019s Department. <\/p>\n
Arthur Calloway, co-vice-chair of the Civilian Oversight Commission, asked at the October meeting whether the sheriff\u2019s department could be trusted to investigate inmate claims against its own employees.<\/p>\n
He added that, \u201cif it was all objective, there would be some substantiated ones actually to trickle out\u201d from claims filed since January 2022.<\/p>\n
Barkley responded that \u201cmany of those\u201d unsubstantiated outcomes are \u201cdictated on whether the D.A. takes the case.\u201d He added that \u201cif the D.A. decides that they\u2019re not going to prosecute the case with inmate-on-inmate, then it is going to be an unsubstantiated.\u201d<\/p>\n
The L.A. County district attorney\u2019s office said in a statement that the Sheriff\u2019s Department first conducts internal investigations of allegations of criminal activity. Then, the department \u201cmay present their investigation to our Justice System Integrity Division (JSID) to determine whether criminal charges should be filed,\u201d the statement said. <\/p>\n
The Sheriff\u2019s Department can also opt \u201cto discipline their employee administratively in addition to, or in lieu of, seeking criminal charges,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor\u2019s office noted that substantiated and unsubstantiated are terms used by the Sheriff\u2019s Department for \u201cadministrative purposes,\u201d not legal outcomes.<\/p>\n
\u201cJSID reviews all cases presented to them by law enforcement using the standard of whether charges can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt,\u201d the D.A.\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n
The Sheriff\u2019s Department said in a statement that sexual abuse cases are investigated internally and that when they are \u201cdetermined to meet the elements of a crime,\u201d they \u201care submitted to the District Attorney\u2019s Office.\u201d <\/p>\n
The department said that since January 2022, four such cases \u201cresulted in administrative investigations and five were\/are being investigated by\u201d the department\u2019s Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau. None of those have been deemed \u201csubstantiated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSubstantiated allegations, often require cooperation and some sort of evidence, which can make them more challenging,\u201d the Sheriff\u2019s Department said. \u201cHowever, unsubstantiated allegations are more common because it has a lower threshold.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dara Williams, assistant inspector general, said it \u201cwould be much better if all complaints were investigated by people who were outside the chain of command.\u201d <\/p>\n
Otherwise, she said, when sheriff\u2019s department employees are the ones determining \u201cwhat triggers an investigation, there is some bias.\u201d <\/p>\n
Inspector General Max Huntsman told The Times that he believes the Sheriff\u2019s Department is \u201cnot in compliance with PREA in many senses,\u201d such as its internal policies and the physical state of its aging correctional facilities.<\/p>\n
At the public meeting last month, Barkley, the PREA coordinator at the Sheriff\u2019s Department, explained that a sergeant must record every sexual abuse and harassment allegation in a dedicated database by the end of the shift when it is received. After that, he said, the allegation is automatically sent to sheriff\u2019s leaders and the inspector general\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
At the conclusion of the meeting, Johnson, the chair of the Civilian Oversight Commission, called on the Sheriff\u2019s Department to take steps to ensure it is conducting fair and thorough reviews of all inmate allegations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is unacceptable to have no substantiated cases reported,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There hasn\u2019t been a \u201csubstantiated\u201d allegation of sexual abuse by staff against an inmate in the nation\u2019s largest…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":380676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[79645,1582,276,6517,11397,182419,132597,49136,5022,2961,224,5337,75958,1812,3546,182420,10410,12498,6831,11004],"class_list":{"0":"post-380675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-allegation","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-case","12":"tag-claim","13":"tag-department-datum","14":"tag-harassment","15":"tag-inmate","16":"tag-investigation","17":"tag-la","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-losangeles","20":"tag-none","21":"tag-office","22":"tag-people","23":"tag-prea","24":"tag-sexual-abuse","25":"tag-sheriff","26":"tag-staff","27":"tag-statement"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115553678502999303","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}