Pamela, John Horton died in custody at Men's Central Jail (MCJ) in March of 2009. He was one of 38 people who lost their lives in Los Angeles County jails that year. Horton was being held at MCJ on a low-level, nonviolent drug charge and awaiting transfer to prison. "I knew something was going on," his mother Helen Jones said. Despite making daily requests to visit, she was repeatedly denied. After 30 days of being turned away from the jail, sheriff's deputies notified Jones that her 22-year-old son was dead. The LA County coroner's office ruled Horton's death a suicide, despite evidence of significant physical violence. Jones said her son was murdered and sued the county. Her case exposed a pattern of behavior by sheriff's deputies that led to Horton's death and the deaths of dozens of others. |
Men's Central Jail has been notorious for the kind of pervasive violence that took John Horton's life for decades.
"The county jail has always been a murder ground," said James Nelson, who was held in MCJ for several months in 1986.
"There's really no difference [in MCJ] between then and now," Nelson said. "The only difference is more people are dying now than were dying in the '80s." |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.