Inside section L300 of the California City Detention Facility, a man lay on the concrete floor of its “day room,” blood gushing from his ears and mouth, according to a detainee who wishes to remain anonymous due to fears of retaliation.
This detainee told L.A. TACO that the man had jumped headfirst from the second floor, falling about 15 feet at around 10 a.m. on August 22. The anonymous source did not see the man jump but witnessed the aftermath and spoke with other detainees who had. The detainees who saw the incident did not want to speak with the media directly for fear of retaliation.
According to our source, a guard screamed “code one, medical emergency” into his walkie-talkie, as detainees surrounded the man, trying to render him aid. The guard was new and appeared not to know what to do, the source told L.A. TACO.
“ I call this place the land of the living dead,” the anonymous detainee tells L.A. TACO. “You know, hell on Earth.”
He remembers someone turning the man on his side—the man gasping for air, his eyes opening and closing. Medical staff arrived after 15 minutes. The source did not see a neck brace placed on the man before he was moved to a gurney, where he continued to bleed.