In January, when over 700 people incarcerated at the jail contracted Covid-19 in less than a month, Pitre said that he started to display symptoms, describing aches, pains, and shortness of breath. Despite filing multiple medical requests, he said, he was given only Tylenol by jail staff, many of whom refused to wear masks. When Pitre tested positive, according to his attorney Megan Hopkins, his requests for medical evaluation went ignored. “They’ve moved him multiple times, and they won’t even replace the blankets he was using when he had the virus,” said Hopkins. “It took weeks for them to even give him an inhaler for his asthma.”
After violating state regulation, Orange County jails begin serving hot meals again
The Orange County Jail in Santa Ana.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
April 29, 2021 2:47 PM PT
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The Orange County Sheriff’s Department said it has resumed serving hot meals in county jails, more than a week after a state board told the agency it was violating a regulation by not providing inmates with at least one hot meal a day.
The California Board of State and Community Corrections raised the issue after it was contacted by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.
The ACLU sent a letter to the BSCC in early April, contending that the sheriff’s department hasn’t served hot meals in its jails for about a year.
Good morning and welcome to the TimesOC newsletter.
It’s Friday, April 23. I’m Ben Brazil on rotation with my colleagues, editors John Canalis and Carol Cormaci, to bring you the latest roundup of Orange County news and events.
An Orange County sheriff’s deputy was caught on video this week disparaging face masks and calling the police officer who killed George Floyd a “dummy,” not a murderer.
Reporter Lila Seidman wrote that a deputy wearing the nametag “P. Medeiros,” was seen in a video posted to social media unmasked at a Gelson’s supermarket. The deputy had been called to the scene after employees had called about an unmasked group of shoppers.
Black and Latino people disproportionately booked in Orange County jails, study finds
An Orange County sheriff’s deputy watches over a group of detained immigrants in the medical area at the Theo Lacy facility.
(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
April 21, 2021 5:26 PM PT
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Black and Latino people made up the majority of Orange County jail bookings between 2010 and 2018, according to a recent report from a UCLA research team.
Latino and Black people accounted for about 47% and 7% of jail bookings despite making up about 35% and 2% of the county’s population, respectively. This indicates “significant racial disparities,” the study said. White people accounted for about 39% of the jail population while making up about 41% of the county’s population.
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Weeks after police say a man threatened Olympic athlete Sakura Kokumai in an Orange County park, authorities allege he also attacked an elderly couple in the same place, leading to his arrest Sunday night.
Orange police say Michael Vivona, 25, punched a Korean American couple in the face at Grijalva Park the same site where Kokumai filmed a man harassing her nearly three weeks ago.
A 79-year-old man and 80-year-old woman were taking a stroll Sunday evening in the park when Vivona approached them around 7:30 p.m. and, without saying much, knocked them both to the ground with his punches, Orange police spokesman Phil McMullin said.