COUNTY OFFICIALS CRITICIZE BACA CONSULTANT SAYS UNREST COULD HAVE BEEN AVERTED.

Byline: Troy Anderson and Rick Orlov Staff Writers

After 11 days of racial violence at Los Angeles County jails, officials lashed out Tuesday at Sheriff Lee Baca, and a top adviser said authorities had ignored warning signs about growing inmate unrest for months.

County jails remained on lockdown - and segregated by race - after nearly two weeks of fights primarily between black and Latino inmates that left two dead and scores injured. As many as seven inmates may eventually be charged with murder, officials said.

A frustrated Board of Supervisors questioned why efforts have failed to halt the violence, which consultant Merrick Bobb said could have been averted.

``There have been signs for the past six months or more as we have seen a rise in violence and incidents,'' said Bobb, who oversees the Sheriff's Department for the board. ``It has been a problem that should have been addressed a long time ago, but was not.''

The supervisors had hoped to question Baca about the deadly violence at the Men's Central Jail and the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, but the sheriff was in Sacramento on Tuesday to testify at a legislative hearing and missed the board meeting. Last week, Baca was in Washington, D.C., for a conference of the nation's police chiefs.

``I'm a little troubled that we don't have a clear understanding of how to get out of this crisis,'' said Supervisor Gloria Molina. ``Right now, we are creating a real Band-Aid operation out there. There is concern about management of our custody divisions overall.''

Baca spokesman Steve Whitmore said it was appropriate for the sheriff to fulfill his commitment to testify in favor of $15 billion in public-safety projects proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

``Even though he's not physically here, everyone understands the sheriff is focused on this and this is his responsibility, which he takes freely,'' Whitmore said. ``He knows he's going to be held accountable. He doesn't duck any of that.''

Sheriff's officials defended the department's actions, saying they are having results.

``We do have our arms around the system now,'' said Marc Klugman, chief of the sheriff's Correctional Services Division. ``We believe if we continue the way we are going now ... we will be able to re-integrate the facility and basically revolutionize the way we house inmates and at the same time have a safe environment.''

In an prerecorded interview that aired Tuesday on KPCC radio's ``Talk of the City,'' Baca said the system for incarcerating lawbreakers should be overhauled.

``I can fix this short-term, but the long-term is that we have to look at the county jail system, look at the state prison system, ask ourselves what can we do to improve things, and we have to pay the price.''

Bobb - who heads the Police Assessment Resource Center and has been working on Sheriff's Department issues for more than a decade - said violent criminals should be housed separately from those incarcerated for relatively minor crimes.

``I think the first thing to look at is to put in hard-lock cells as contrasted to the dormitories we have there now,'' Bobb said. ``And you have four different classes of inmates, and they should be separated.''

He also said changes should be made in staffing the jails, which have been plagued by a shortage of deputies.

Under the current policies, deputies are assigned for several years to work in the jails before they are sent on patrol. Bobb proposed creating a program for deputies interested only in a career in corrections.

Meanwhile, Klugman said officials were continuing to expedite the transfer of hundreds of county jail inmates to state prisons.

``We are up to 90 percent felons in our jails,'' he said. ``What we have become is a holding system for the state. Those here on high bails or no-bail, I can't do anything with them.''

Officials also said that while the Feb. 4 fight that sparked the riots was initially believed to be between black and Latino gangs, it actually involved mostly white inmates.

``This has been blown up as a black-on-brown thing,'' Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said. ``Apparently, it was not initially. ... I'd like to know if the Aryan Nations was involved.''

Troy Anderson, [phone]

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com