A federal judge in Sacramento signed off on a settlement Friday in the Placer County Jail abuse case that calls for the county to initiate sweeping new reforms in the county’s two jails and to create a fund of more than $1.4 million to pay off claims by inmates.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman signed a tentative approval in a class-action lawsuit brought against Placer County last year following Sheriff Devon Bell’s revelation that three sheriff’s officials had been arrested on allegations of using excessive force on inmates and trying to cover it up.
A permanent settlement approval is expected in March, but officials on both sides say changes already have been made in the sheriff’s office’s training and at the jails to prevent a recurrence of incidents that sparked several lawsuits by inmates and, ultimately, the class action suit filed by Penn Valley lawyer Patrick Dwyer and Sacramento civil rights attorney Mark Merin.