FBI Agrees To Investigate Allegations Of Forced Inmate Fighting At San Francisco Jail
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- The FBI has agreed to investigate allegations of forced inmate fighting in San Francisco's jail at the request of San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi.
The sheriff provided an update on the allegations of the fighting, Friday morning at City Hall. Mirkarimi said he was not aware that Public Defender Jeff Adachi had employed a private investigator to interview two inmates about four deputies who allegedly compelled them to fight over a period of several weeks.
"Had I been alerted, I would have taken immediate steps to protect the inmates and take the appropriate administrative actions involving the identified deputies. However, Mr. Adachi's decision was to conduct his own limited investigation," Mirkarimi said.
Mirkarimi said with the goal of transparency and accountability, he asked the State attorney general and the U.S. attorney to investigate and the FBI has agreed. An internal investigation will be completed in the next two weeks.
Meanwhile, in the follow up to a second scandal— a $5 million arrest warrant has been secured for Alex Santiago-Gonzales who escaped from jail last month while taking out the trash.
"While it is too early to anticipate the ultimate conclusions of the criminal investigation, what I can say is that it appears that previously instituted security protocols were ignored and directly contributed to the escape," said Mirkarimi.
He added that the department is moving to implement more restrictive guidelines to inmate workers.
