Sheriff Reportedly Rescinds 'Potty Watch' Policy

The sheriff’s department was reported Tuesday to have rescinded a policy—decried by experts as inhumane—under which inmates suspected of concealing drugs or other contraband in body cavities were chained to walls for several hours as guards waited for what was being concealed to be expelled.

A Los Angeles Times article this morning described one such contraband- retrieval exercise this way:

One jail inmate, clad only in boxer shorts and socks, was handcuffed to a wall for up to 11 hours. Another was cuffed to the wall for as many as eight or nine hours, causing bleeding and severe pain to his wrists. They were among dozens of inmates at North County Correctional Facility who were chained to the wall with their hands behind their backs, half-naked or even fully naked, sometimes with their feet shackled to the floor, as jail officials waited for them to expel contraband from their bodies.

Corrections experts quoted by The Times said the practice is improper and inhumane. But at the maximum-security North County jail in Castaic, which is run by the sheriff’s department, the policy was required and spelled out in writing, The Times reported.

The sheriff’s department has since rescinded the policy and referred 24 cases to the district attorney’s office for possible prosecution, according to The Times. To date, prosecutors have filed criminal charges in only one case -- the prolonged handcuffing of an inmate suspected of having an unauthorized note to another inmate hidden in his rectum.

But advocates for the deputies argue that it’s unfair to blame low-level officials who were simply following department policy, The Times reported.

Contraband watch, known informally as “potty watch,” is a fact of life at jails and prisons across the country, as inmates conceal drugs, weapons and other forbidden items in their body cavities, according to the newspaper. Potty watches often become tests of patience, stretching for hours during the wait for the inmate to use the toilet.

-City News Service