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LOS ANGELES –The ACLU of Southern California (ACLU/SC) and the National ACLU today released a report documenting disturbing conditions and abuses in the Los Angeles County jail system, including excessive and unjustified force by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, retaliation against prisoners for communicating with the ACLU/SC, a lack of access to mental health care, and severe overcrowding.

The California affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a class action lawsuit against the State of California and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today for allowing school districts throughout the state to charge fees for books and other essential educational supplies. This practice violates the California Constitution which, since 1879, has guaranteed children a free education.

LOS ANGELES — On the eve of Labor Day, the ACLU of Southern California and the law firm of Hadsell, Stormer, Keeny, Richardson & Renick, LLP today filed a class action lawsuit in federal district court against Terra Universal, Inc., charging the multi-million dollar federal government contractor with violations of federal wage and hour laws for requiring employees to work long hours without overtime pay and systematically discriminating against Latino workers based on their race and immigration status.

Jennie Pasquarella is a staff attorney with the ACLU of Southern California.

Los Angeles County Jail has just installed an Assault Intervention Device ''' an invisible microwave-beam weapon originally developed by the military ''' as a way to subdue inmates by focusing a microwave beam on them to make them feel "intolerable heat."