There hasn’t been a “substantiated” allegation of sexual abuse by employees towards an inmate within the nation’s largest jail system since 2021.
At first look, the statistic — based mostly on Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division knowledge — would possibly seem to point {that a} federal legislation referred to as the Jail Rape Elimination Act has lastly completed its mission greater than 20 years after it was enacted by Congress.
However a broad array of native oversight officers and advocacy teams are elevating eyebrows over the declare, and bringing new scrutiny to how the Sheriff’s Division investigates allegations of sexual abuse made by inmates towards their jailers.
L.A. County incarcerates about 13,000 folks — together with roughly 1,500 girls — all through its community of jails watched over by sheriff’s deputies.
Sheriff’s Division information present that between January 2022 and September 2025, inmates filed 592 allegations of abuse and harassment towards employees. None have been deemed “substantiated,” which the Sheriff’s Division defines on its web site as “an allegation that was investigated and decided to have occurred.”
The suggestion that there has not been sufficient proof to help even one alleged incident by employees towards an inmate in practically 4 years has struck some tasked with monitoring the Sheriff’s Division as absurd.
“When you’ve this many complaints and you’ve got zero which can be based, there’s something improper with the method,” stated George B. Newhouse, a member of the L.A. Sheriff Civilian Oversight Fee.
L.A. County’s Workplace of Inspector Common and advocacy teams, together with the Anti-Recidivism Coalition and Peace Over Violence, additionally shared considerations concerning the lack of substantiated allegations throughout a Nov. 4 digital dialogue of the federal Jail Rape Elimination Act, or PREA. The legislation was enacted in 2003 in an effort to scale back widespread sexual abuse behind bars.
In 2012, the federal authorities instituted a algorithm referred to as PREA requirements, which laid out steps that jail and jail operators are required to take to forestall and cut back sexual abuse and harassment between inmates and employees.
L.A. County Sheriff’s Division Sgt. Ryan Vaccaro stated the division “has zero tolerance for sexual abuse and sexual harassment.” He added that month-to-month city corridor conferences are held in jails to teach inmates about PREA and report any questions and complaints they’ve concerning the federal requirements.
“Our staff is devoted to making sure our residents know now we have a zero-tolerance coverage and know tips on how to get assist after they want it,” he stated. “All PREA allegations are documented and processed promptly, totally and objectively.”
Throughout a public assembly final month, Hans Johnson, the chair of the Civilian Oversight Fee, pressed John Barkley, assistant director and PREA coordinator on the Sheriff’s Division, to clarify the shortage of substantiated stories, and the way lengthy it usually takes for allegations to be investigated.
Dozens of the harassment and abuse claims recognized within the sheriff’s division information are listed as “pending,” which the division defines on its web site as an “allegation nonetheless underneath investigation.”
“It type of beggars credulity that that variety of complaints may very well be raised and that none may very well be substantiated,” Johnson stated. “It’s only a purple flag.”
Barkley stated “each case is investigated” and located to be both “substantiated, unsubstantiated or unfounded.” He stated “each state of affairs is totally different. The factor that we’re mandated to do is to do the investigation promptly and to do it totally.”
In an announcement a colleague learn aloud on the Nov. 4 discussion board, Portland, Ore., resident Frank Mendoza stated that whereas he was incarcerated at L.A.’s Twin Towers Correctional Facility in 2006, “officers on the jail repeatedly harassed me as a result of I used to be overtly homosexual” and one beat and raped him in his cell.
“I used to be then left within the cell bare, bloodied, and utterly humiliated,” Mendoza stated in his assertion. “I attempted to report what occurred. First, I advised the officer on the subsequent shift who discovered me on the ground of my cell, and all he did was order me to dress. That was the norm. Officers didn’t inform on each other.”
Mendoza alleged he wasn’t supplied medical remedy or examined for accidents attributable to the assault. When he reported the rape, he discovered that “and not using a forensic examination, it was unimaginable to construct a legal case.”
Now, Mendoza offers voice to different individuals who have been victims of sexual abuse and harassment whereas incarcerated by way of his advocacy work as a member of Simply Detention Worldwide’s Survivor Council.
“It’s clear the county nonetheless has a number of work to do to make sure the protection of individuals in detention,” he stated. “On the identical time, the truth that such a listening to is going on is proof to me of a tradition shift and that individuals are listening.”
The Sheriff’s Division additionally tracks inmate-on-inmate allegations, which accounted for 296 stories of sexual abuse or harassment between January 2022 and June 2025. Of these, 28 have been labeled as “substantiated.”
The numbers have spiked since then, with 82 inmate-on-inmate allegations between July and September 2025. Of these claims, the division deemed 5 involving sexual abuse to be “substantiated,” together with one other 5 claims of sexual harassment.
Throughout that three-month interval, inmates made 121 sexual abuse and harassment claims towards employees, none of which have been recognized as “substantiated” by the Sheriff’s Division.
Arthur Calloway, co-vice-chair of the Civilian Oversight Fee, requested on the October assembly whether or not the sheriff’s division may very well be trusted to research inmate claims towards its personal workers.
He added that, “if it was all goal, there can be some substantiated ones truly to trickle out” from claims filed since January 2022.
Barkley responded that “a lot of these” unsubstantiated outcomes are “dictated on whether or not the D.A. takes the case.” He added that “if the D.A. decides that they’re not going to prosecute the case with inmate-on-inmate, then it’ll be an unsubstantiated.”
The L.A. County district lawyer’s workplace stated in an announcement that the Sheriff’s Division first conducts inside investigations of allegations of legal exercise. Then, the division “could current their investigation to our Justice System Integrity Division (JSID) to find out whether or not legal prices ought to be filed,” the assertion stated.
The Sheriff’s Division may also decide “to self-discipline their worker administratively along with, or in lieu of, searching for legal prices,” the assertion stated.
The prosecutor’s workplace famous that substantiated and unsubstantiated are phrases utilized by the Sheriff’s Division for “administrative functions,” not authorized outcomes.
“JSID evaluations all instances introduced to them by legislation enforcement utilizing the usual of whether or not prices may be proved past an affordable doubt,” the D.A.’s workplace stated.
The Sheriff’s Division stated in an announcement that sexual abuse instances are investigated internally and that when they’re “decided to fulfill the weather of against the law,” they “are submitted to the District Lawyer’s Workplace.”
The division stated that since January 2022, 4 such instances “resulted in administrative investigations and 5 have been/are being investigated by” the division’s Inner Legal Investigations Bureau. None of these have been deemed “substantiated.”
“Substantiated allegations, usually require cooperation and a few type of proof, which might make them tougher,” the Sheriff’s Division stated. “Nonetheless, unsubstantiated allegations are extra widespread as a result of it has a decrease threshold.”
Dara Williams, assistant inspector basic, stated it “can be a lot better if all complaints have been investigated by individuals who have been outdoors the chain of command.”
In any other case, she stated, when sheriff’s division workers are those figuring out “what triggers an investigation, there may be some bias.”
Inspector Common Max Huntsman advised The Instances that he believes the Sheriff’s Division is “not in compliance with PREA in lots of senses,” reminiscent of its inside insurance policies and the bodily state of its getting old correctional services.
On the public assembly final month, Barkley, the PREA coordinator on the Sheriff’s Division, defined {that a} sergeant should report each sexual abuse and harassment allegation in a devoted database by the top of the shift when it’s obtained. After that, he stated, the allegation is mechanically despatched to sheriff’s leaders and the inspector basic’s workplace.
On the conclusion of the assembly, Johnson, the chair of the Civilian Oversight Fee, referred to as on the Sheriff’s Division to take steps to make sure it’s conducting honest and thorough evaluations of all inmate allegations.
“It’s unacceptable to don’t have any substantiated instances reported,” he stated.
