A group of officers at Los Angeles’ Men’s Central Jail were distracted by a “sexually explicit” video and failed to notice an inmate with a noose in his cell, the New York Post reported Friday.
Inspectors Haley Broder and Eric Miller discovered the noose hanging in the maximum security cell during a patrol last May, they said. report Prison inspectors wrote in an official report that the rope was unlikely to be able to support an inmate’s weight, but that it was “obvious to anyone looking into the cell.”
Los Angeles prison guards were reportedly too busy watching porn to notice a noose in a suicidal inmate’s cell https://t.co/Ui5fLar9Sm pic.twitter.com/qDSxQ2SpgX
— New York Post (@nypost) June 7, 2024
Despite the shocking scene, guards conducting a security check allegedly ignored the noose and Broder stayed with the inmate, who was banging his head against the wall, while Miller called for officers for help, the New York Post reported. reportWhen Miller arrived at the station, eight deputies were gathered around a television and initially ignored his concerns, but when he returned 30 minutes later, he found the deputies watching what he believed to be a sexually explicit video.
“To me it looked like the beginning of an OnlyFans video or something,” Miller said. Los Angeles Times“The women were in their underwear and it was clear they had no intention of getting dressed. It looked like they were planning on taking their clothes off.” (RELATED: Lawsuit alleges male inmate raped, assaulted female inmate for hours after guards gave him keys)
A photo taken in Toulouse on October 5, 2021 shows the Onlyfans social media logo displayed on a tablet. (Photo by LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP via Getty Images)
The report said officers only removed the explicit footage after Broder entered the room, and after repeated requests, one of the officers finally reluctantly removed the noose. Broder and Miller’s report stressed that the noose incident reflects broader problems at the prison. Broder cited “continued neglect and poor conditions,” with inmates complaining of hunger, suffering from large open wounds, and living amongst garbage, according to the New York Post.
The facility stank and occasionally caught fire, according to the New York Post. The report described it as “boiling hot, filthy, [and] Problems included damp showers, moldy cells, and poor air circulation. Many inmates reportedly only had one set of clothes, and mattresses did not meet regulatory standards.
“We also saw men whose cells were covered in mold and water, and some men were soaking up the water with their clothes,” Broder told the Los Angeles Times. “There were no books or pens in the room. It was completely empty and pitch black.”
