As deaths in custody increase, a group of Latina and African American mothers held a 24-hour vigil in front of the Men’s Central Jail (MCJ), where their children died under suspicious circumstances or were subjected to brutal beatings by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies.
On the third annual Mother’s Day, they demanded the closure of the country’s largest county jail system, currently under the supervision of Sheriff Robert Luna.
“I am the mother of the late Jelani Lovett, who was murdered here at Central Jailon September 22, 2021,” said Terry Lovett, who traveled from Oakland to Los Angeles to remember his deceased son.
With tears streaming down her face, the former inmate’s mother alleges in a lawsuit that her son, who was 27 years old, died from a beating and not from the effects of drugs, as authorities claimed.
The lawsuit filed by Terry Lovett in Los Angeles Superior Court alleges negligence and civil rights violations. The mother of the deceased Jalani Lovett is seeking unspecified damages.
“I know that he did not die from a fentanyl overdose – as they claimed – because he has lacerations, bruises, broken teeth, what appears to be a bullet hole in the back of the head, a hole in the center of the chest and the arm dislocated from the joint; and none of these injuries appear in the coroner’s report,” the grieving mother reported. “It appears he was beaten and then shot.”
The cell where Jelani died was in the 3000 block of the jail, a location known to inmates as serving the “3000 boys,” an alleged violent gang of deputies whose existence was denied by former sheriff Alex Villanueva.
Mother still seeks justice
Terry Lovett told La Opinión that he should get a second autopsy, and once he gets the results and the pathologist confirms his suspicions—which is a bullet hole in the head—then “I can proceed and someone can be charged with murder.”
Although he has been fighting for five years to reopen the case of his son’s death, no one has paid attention to him.
“In the judicial system everyone protects each other. The courts, the coroner and the emergency services protect the police officers. It’s like a big vicious circle. And now that we’re talking about a murder, nobody wants to reopen the case,” he said. “I am going to continue fighting, because we are talking about first-degree murder.”
Ms. Lovett added that she has tried to contact State Attorney Rob Bonta, but he refuses to talk to her.
He wants to make known an initiative regarding the “inhumane conditions” of the Central Prison for Men “and why it is necessary to close it and about the gangs of agents who roam freely here and murder inmates.”
They were the same arguments described by Saharra White, a single mother, college student, and community organizer at Dignity and Energy Now, dedicated to ending mass incarceration.
“Happy Mother’s Day! We gather in the shadow of Men’s Central Jail, a place that has stolen too many lives, torn apart too many families and it has caused immeasurable pain in our communities,” White said. “But we come together not in defeat, but in love, faith and resistance.”
She added that the special honor on May 10 is for women who transform their grief into a movement; to the women who have buried their children and still find the strength to continue fighting; to the women who carry with them the stories, memories and dreams of those they have lost.
“Mothers are the heartbeat of this fight. When a mother stands up and says, “My child’s life matters,” the world is forced to listen. Today we pray. Today we mourn. And today we organize and renew our commitment to close the Central Prison of Men—without replacing it with another—and investing in healing, housing, treatment, education and genuine support for our communities,” White said.
The Central Prison for Men
As of early 2026, the average daily inmate population (ADIP) of the entire Los Angeles County jail system was around 13,000-13,500 people. While the daily count specific to Men’s Central Jail alone fluctuates, it has recently operated with a population of around 4,300 to more than 4,500 inmates.
Janet Asante, campaign leader for Justice LA, which was founded in 2017 in the wake of a $3.5 billion jail expansion project proposed by Los Angeles County and which had to be canceled even though contracts had already been signed, recalled that they were specifically expanding a women’s jail.
Asante said that last week a public defender sent him a video of the water inside the Lynwood jail — which is the women’s jail in Los Angeles County — in which worms can be seen swimming with the naked eye.
“Imagine what the water you use to wash yourself, to wash your dishes or to maintain any type of hygiene will be like. Imagine if this is what the water you drink is like,” he denounced. “And yet we are told that the deaths are ‘natural’.”
Brutal beating of his son
Vanessa Pérez, mother of Joseph Andrew Pérez, told La Opinión the helplessness she felt during the period in which her son lived on the street and suffered a deterioration in his mental health, which worsened for the brutal beating that seven agents of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department gave him.
Joseph Pérez, then a 22-year-old man with schizophrenia, was brutally beaten by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies in July 2020 following an incident near the Industry Sheriff’s Station, where the “Industry Indians” gang of deputies allegedly predominates. Joseph Andrew Pérez required stitches and staples in his face and head.
“That day when I didn’t know anything about my son, I felt totally helpless,” Vanessa Pérez recalled. “I knew that being on the street his condition [de salud mental] It was deteriorating, getting worse and worse. “I received absolutely no help.”
“Joseph is still struggling. He’s suffering from long-term effects. He’s fighting his seizures, his head, his headaches, the damage he suffered to his central nervous system,” the mother added. “To this day there is no sign of justice for Joseph.”
However, on April 20, a judge decided that they will move forward with Joseph’s case in court.
“Of the seven agents belonging to the Industry station and who participated in beating Joseph, two of them confirmed having tattoos from the Industry Indians gang,” Mrs. Pérez revealed. Currently, this mother is studying law to defend her son’s case.
