Dead inmate said he saw deputies beating prisoner

Before he turned up dead in his cell at Men's Central Jail, murder suspect Marlon Martinez had told of seeing Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies beating an inmate, the Daily Journal's Greg Katz reported.

Martinez, 22, raised the allegations to at least one fellow inmate, as well as an outside visitor, according to people familiar with the matter. An intermediary later brought the allegations to the attention to the American Civil Liberites Union of Southern California, which monitors jail conditions.

The ACLU did not look into Martinez's allegations because of the timing and quality of the information. Sheriff's officials and a watchdog have begun to probe both Martinez's death and the allegations he made beforehand.

No links are available to Daily Journal stories. It was in Monday's edition.