From [HERE] Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and his top aide are scheduled Friday to face a county commission created to examine allegations of abuse inside the department's jails. Baca has been accused of neglecting his lockups and ignoring direct warnings about rampant excessive force and gang-like deputy cliques. His second-in-command, Undersheriff Paul Tanaka, has been accused by current and retired sheriff's supervisors of openly encouraging a climate in which deputy misconduct went unchecked.

The commission was created by the county Board of Supervisors after it was revealed that the FBI was investigating allegations of abuse inside the Sheriff's Department lockups, the largest jail system in the nation.

In hearings over the last several weeks, the commission has already heard dramatic testimony from advocates and former prisoners. The most notable testimony, however, has come from past and current sheriff's supervisors, who have been given clearance to speak candidly before the commission. At the panel's last meeting, a current sheriff's supervisor testified that a former Men's Central Jail captain allowed misconduct to go unchecked by jailers. He said at one department Christmas party, Capt. Daniel Cruz joked about force on inmates during his speech, toasting to "not in the face," an apparent allusion to blows on inmates that don't leave marks.