AG Rob Bonta sues LASD for its “inhumane” Jails

Today,—Monday morning, Sept 8—California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a long and tersely-worded lawsuit against the County of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and LA County’s Correctional Health Services (CHS).

In the lawsuit, Bonta describes the “unconstitutional and inhumane conditions” in the nation’s largest jail system.

Four years earlier, the AG’s office reportedly launched an investigation into whether LASD had engaged in a “pattern or practice’ of unconstitutional policing.

Among other issues, according to Bonta, the investigation revealed a significant and ongoing series of constitutional violations at Los Angeles County jails, including a significant increase in in-custody deaths, despite decreases in the jail population size, uninhabitable and overcrowded jail facilities with inadequate plumbing, sanitation, and temperature control—all of which Bonta says has contributed to multiple deaths.

WLA note: This year’s death count in LA County’s jails has already reached 36.

Among the jail system’s other failures, Bonta describes the failure to provide adequate medical and mental health care to people inside the jails, a situation that WLA inmate sources and our deputy sources who work in custody, also describe as life threatening.

In today’s announcement, the AG and his office make clear that they intend to cut LA County Sheriff Robert Luna, exactly zero slack regarding Luna’s failure to agree to implement “comprehensive solutions necessary to improve conditions at all county jails.”

Hence today’s 78-page lawsuit.

It is also important to note that the primary target of the newly-filed lawsuit, Sheriff Robert Luna has recently announced that he is running for second term in 2026, and he already has a string of challengers, which include controversial former Sheriff Alex Villanueva.

Another of Luna’s challengers is retired Sheriff’s Captain Mike Bornman who is known for, among other accomplishments, creating the LASD’s Education Based Incarceration Bureau (EBI) which provides education and life skills training to inmates in the jail system.  EBI also oversaw the Community transition Unit (CTU), which assists people leaving the jail system in finding out-of-custody housing and treatment programs.

When we spoke to Bornman today about the AG’s lawsuit, pointed to his past success with innovative custody strategies as evidence that change is possible.

“I have a long history and track record in the custody environment and can step in to begin fixing this problem on day one.”

Meanwhile, in today’s announcement, AG Bonta writes of some of his past successes elsewhere in the state.

“In recent years, my office has successfully negotiated settlements with law enforcement agencies across California to reform their practices, including most recently, an agreement with the neighboring city of Torrance,” Bonta writes. He also mentions his work with Vallejo’s PD.

Now, Bonta is making clear to LA’s sheriff that change must come.

“While the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Sheriff Luna have made a number of reforms to patrol operations during the course of our investigation, they have remained obstinate on the issue of improving the unsafe and unconstitutional conditions at county jails. We’re going to court because we have no other choice —  we will not let Los Angeles County continue to ignore its responsibility to the health, safety, and well-being of the individuals under its care.

More soon on this story soon. So….stay tuned.