For many years, residents of Kern County have expressed concerns about excessive force and serious misconduct by the officers of the Kern County Sheriff’s Office (“KCSO”) and Bakersfield Police Department (“BPD”). In response to community concerns and to public reports about a number of police killings of unarmed individuals in Kern County, the ACLU of California (“ACLU CA”) conducted a two-year investigation into excessive force by KCSO and BPD. This paper summarizes the findings of that investigation.
Our findings show that both KCSO and BPD have engaged in patterns and practices that violate civil rights. KCSO and BPD officers have engaged in patterns of excessive force—including shooting and beating to death unarmed individuals and deploying canines to attack and injure— as well as a practice of filing intimidating or retaliatory criminal charges against individuals they subject to excessive force.
Deficient oversight and accountability structures have allowed law enforcement misconduct to go unchecked and in some cases escalate. Changes to KCSO and BPD policies, training, and institutional structures are therefore required to ensure that officers carry out their duties lawfully, ethically, and safely — consistent with the Constitution and respect for the sanctity of life.
Read the full report for more.
If you've experienced excessive force or other violations of your rights by Bakersfield Police Department officers or Kern County Sheriff's Office deputies, please let us know.
Date
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 - 6:00pm
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ACLU Releases Report on Excessive Force Used by Kern County and Bakersfield Law Enforcement Agencies
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California jails are required by law to protect the reproductive health of the people in their care. But across the state, we're seeing that accessing reproductive health care becomes a frightening and traumatic experience for incarcerated people. Our report Reproductive Health Behind Bars in California found that jails are putting people's health at risk by denying, delaying and ignoring crucial reproductive health care.
In California and across the country, we have a problem with unfair and unjust mass incarceration. It's having an especially harmful effect on poor communities and communities of color. If we're going to be locking people up at all, we need to be looking out for their health. Jails need to make concrete changes to make sure that they are meeting the reproductive health needs of the people in their care.
For instance, when jails delay abortions, deny prenatal care, withhold menstrual pads, don't allow a breastfeeding mother to pump milk or fail to prevent sexual assault, they are failing to protect the people in their care from medical harm. Reproductive Health Behind Bars in California examines the current landscape of reproductive health in California jails and recommends a range of policy changes.
Below, you'll also find a Know Your Rights guide for people in need of reproductive health care in jails and a toolkit for jail administrators and advocates working to align their policies with state and federal law and medical best practice.
While we all work to address mass incarceration, jails can make great strides in improving the reproductive health of incarcerated people.
ASSESSMENT TOOL
Download our tool to assess and reform policies and practices.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
Know your rights on reproductive health care in California jails.
Date
Wednesday, January 20, 2016 - 4:00pm
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Conditions that fail to meet not only constitutional but also state and department standards for physical security, medical care, mental health care and living environment are unlawful and should not be tolerated. Discriminatory policies and practices and noncompliance with legal standards may further violate the rights of individuals who are incarcerated and give rise to concerns of legal liability.
For more than 40 years, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California (ACLU SoCal) has worked to ensure that a basic standard of care is provided to people in jail. The ACLU SoCal is the court-ordered monitor of conditions of con nement within all Los Angeles County jail facilities.
Through its Jails Project, the ACLU SoCal responds to complaints by individuals who are incarcerated and ensures that court-ordered reforms are implemented. In August 2015, the ACLU SoCal began to examine the conditions inside the Orange County jail system to determine whether a basic standard of care is provided to all individuals in custody. The inquiry was prompted by media and incarcerated individuals’ accounts of abuse and misconduct. Before the study began, the ACLU SoCal routinely received complaints and requests for assistance at its Los Angeles and Orange County offices from people incarcerated in Orange County jails.
Orange County Jails, a report by the ACLU SoCal Jails Project, includes findings from interviews and surveys of current and formerly incarcerated individuals. Accounts on a range of issues are incorporated and analyzed against constitutional standards as well as policies and procedures of the OCSD and Title 15 Regulations of the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC). A discussion of major findings is followed by recommendations. The report also covers OCSD structure and operations, in-custody related deaths, a federal program to house undocumented immigrants, an informant scandal, a 2016 jail escape, lawsuits, and oversight. The report aims to raise awareness and increase transparency and accountability in an effort to halt violations.
Read the full report
Read the executive summary
Read the advocacy letter
Date
Monday, June 26, 2017 - 5:15pm
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ACLU SoCal Statement on OC Sheriff Sandra Hutchens’s Retirement
ACLU Report Finds Inhuman, Violent Conditions in Orange County Jails
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