The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday agreed to pay $3.9 million to settle federal civil rights claims against the Sheriff’s Department and a deputy accused in a sexual assault involving female jail inmates.
The board’s action ends one lawsuit, and another potential claim, brought by three women alleging sexual assault by Deputy Giancarlo Scotti last year at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood.
The plaintiffs also alleged that they faced retaliation inside the jail after raising the alleged incidents with Sheriff’s Department investigators, and that they were put at risk because the facility didn’t comply with federal standards related to sexual harassment and abuse of inmates.
An attorney representing two of the women receiving the settlements, which the board approved unanimously without comment, praised them as a first step toward improving jail conditions for current and future inmates.
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