Suit charges inmates were beaten, tortured at Sonoma County Jail

A photograph of Jesus Arango Lopez with his daughter sits in front of his sister Karina Arango Lopez during a press conference at the law office of Izaak Schwaiger in Santa Rosa, California, on Tuesday, October 6, 2015. Jesus Arango Lopez are plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Sonoma County Sheriff, claiming they were systematically beaten by deputies while incarcerated at Sonoma County Jail. less A photograph of Jesus Arango Lopez with his daughter sits in front of his sister Karina Arango Lopez during a press conference at the law office of Izaak Schwaiger in Santa Rosa, California, on Tuesday, ... more Photo: Alvin Jornada, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Alvin Jornada, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close Suit charges inmates were beaten, tortured at Sonoma County Jail 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office was hit with a federal lawsuit in which 20 inmates charge they were subjected to “heinous and inexplicable beatings” for five hours in May by sadistic deputies at the county jail who wore ski masks and black clothing.

The complaint, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, names the county of Sonoma, Sheriff Steve Freitas and several of his deputies, and seeks unspecified damages.

A spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office called the accusations “outrageous and inflammatory,” saying the incidents described in the complaint came in response to a “seemingly coordinated mass disturbance by inmates housed in administrative segregation.”

Civil rights lawyer Izaak Schwaiger, who filed the lawsuit, said at a press conference Tuesday that he’d received numerous letters from inmates with similar stories of the alleged abuse that unfolded on May 28 following the brutal beating of inmate Giovanni Montes.

“Deputies dressed in all black wearing ski masks dragged Montes to the shower, ordered him to strip naked, and told the inmate he was their ‘bitch,’” the suit charges. “They grabbed Montes and threw him to the ground, handcuffed him, then slammed his head into the floor, striking several rapid and violent blows about his head, shoulders, neck, and back.”

Another inmate, Jesus Lopez, was beaten “to the point of involuntary defecation,” the suit alleges.

“Covered in his own feces, Lopez pleaded for toilet paper. The deputies ignored his pleas, laughed at him, and locked him naked in isolation covered in his own feces for two days,” according to the complaint.

During Tuesday’s news conference, parents of some of the inmates involved in the case read letters from their jailed loved ones describing the abuse they endured.

Lori Banks said her son, Daniel Banks, was among the inmates beaten in his cell. In a letter read at the press conference by his mother, Daniel Banks said he was not resisting the deputies when they entered his cell and started beating him.

In the letter, he charged that one of the deputies “spit in my face.”

Daniel Banks said he lay on his mattress with his hands behind his back as a show of submission in the hopes of avoiding the types of beatings he heard going on all around him, the lawsuit said. But rather than leave him be, deputies saved him for last, Schwaiger alleged.

“His cell door opened and four deputies wearing black entered the small cell. All but one was wearing a ski mask,” according to the suit. “The four deputies jumped on top of him and began kneeing and punching him in the back and wrenching his arms above his head, causing him excruciating pain.”

At one point, the suit claims, Banks turned to face the deputies and one of them allegedly yelled, “That’s right — get a good look at me, you punk bitch — this is our house!” before spitting in his face.

Schwaiger suspects that much of the incident was caught on video, but said that the Sheriff’s Office has yet to turn it over to him.

“This is like a horror movie,” he said. “And we have reason to believe this was not an isolated incident.”

Cecile Focha, spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office, said officials would be reviewing the case, as is standard protocol with all complaints.

“The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office takes claims of abuse and excessive force very seriously,” Focha said in a statement. “Based on an initial review of the complaint, there is absolutely no basis to the allegations of torture, sadistic actions, and patterns of egregious constitutional violations or human suffering.

“The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office takes very seriously our obligation to treat all inmates with dignity and respect, and is confident that we will prevail in this lawsuit.”

Kale Williams is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: kwilliams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfkale