SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco’s public defender released findings Thursday of an investigation that indicates four sheriff’s deputies are staging brutal inmate fights at the county jail and betting on them.
Jeff Adachi, who detailed the findings of the investigation at a news conference, said the deputies even forced some of the men to train for the gladiator-style events.
He had planned to go public with the allegations when three inmate witnesses were released from custody, but moved up his announcement after learning another fight was scheduled for next week, the San Francisco Examiner reported.
In a letter to San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, Adachi wrote of “allegations of serious misconduct committed by sheriff’s deputies assigned to work at County Jail No. 4 on the seventh floor of the Hall of Justice.”
“I am requesting that you take immediate action and at a minimum, remove the deputies involved from any position where they have any contact with prisoners, including the clients they have harmed,” the letter said.
Mirkarimi attended the news conference and was listening from the back of the room, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Vivian Ho noted in a series of tweets.
According to a KTVU reporter at the news conference, Mirkarimi called the alleged acts “barbaric” and said the four deputies have been reassigned and two inmates transferred to another jail.
After the news conference, Mirkarimi said that he would reach out to the U.S. Department of Justice to assist with any investigation.
The Examiner said that Adachi called Mirkarimi early Thursday to press him to remove the deputies to avert any retaliation against the inmates who came forward, all of whom were named.
The ringleader, according to the public defender’s statement, is San Francisco Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Neu, who was accused in a 2006 civil rights lawsuit of sexually tormenting several female inmates.
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