If the Justice Department's civil rights division determines that deputies violated inmates' rights, the Orange County Sheriff's Department could be put under federal oversight, following in the footsteps of the Los Angeles Police Department.
The sheriff's department has been lambasted for obstructing a district attorney's investigation with "a code of silence."
A county jury found that deputy actions which led to the death of inmates -- whether by Tasering a handcuffed inmate or falsely accusing a man of child molestation -- provided ample evidence of widespread abuse at the Theo Lacy Jail.
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