The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether conditions at Los Angeles County's Men's Central Jail violate the Constitution and federal law.

Attorney General Todd Blanche, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli signed a letter sent Wednesday, Sept. 9, to Sheriff Robert Luna notifying the county of the probe, the Los Angeles Times reported. The investigation will examine whether the county has failed to provide "environmentally safe, humane and habitable conditions" for inmates at the downtown Los Angeles facility.

The probe falls under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), a federal statute that protects the rights of people held in state or local jails. It will focus on the facility itself, not on the deputies who staff it, according to the Daily News.

"Whether a person is held in a county jail, awaiting trial, or after conviction, the environmental conditions in that jail need to meet constitutional standards," Dhillon said.

The 63-year-old jail has drawn scrutiny for years. County officials have described it as "antiquated, inhumane." Roughly half of the 27 in-custody deaths at LA County jails so far in 2026 occurred at MCJ, the Daily News reported, even though only about 30% of the county's 12,734 inmates are housed there.

Haley Broder, chair of the Sybil Brand Commission, which monitors jail conditions, described what she has seen inside the facility: fires burning, visible mold, feces on the walls and trash throughout the cells. The department began bringing in outside cleaning staff in August 2026 rather than relying on inmates to clean, Broder said, according to the Daily News.

The federal investigation is separate from a lawsuit the California Attorney General's Office filed in September 2025 alleging inmates lacked access to clean water and edible food and were housed in facilities infested with roaches and rats. That case has stalled over questions about whether it should be heard in federal or county courts.

In March 2026, Sheriff Luna reached out to the National Institute of Corrections to examine jail conditions after a string of in-custody deaths. "I want someone to come in and review from top to bottom," Luna told the Los Angeles Times at the time.

The Sheriff's Department said in a statement that it will cooperate fully with the DOJ investigation. The department said it has invested more than $300 million in custodial maintenance and pest control, including increasing cleaning from once a month to five times a month.

The county's Board of Supervisors voted in 2021 to close Men's Central Jail without building a replacement, but the county has struggled to reduce the jail population enough to make that possible. Recent estimates suggest reaching that goal could take another five years and cost $1.5 billion, the Daily News reported.

Sheriff Luna has pushed instead for a replacement "Correctional Care Center" focused on clinical care and treatment. Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said the board must agree on a replacement facility and close the jail, or the problems will persist.

In the letter, the DOJ said it has reached no conclusions and encouraged the county to cooperate. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie A. Hamill of the Civil Division's Civil Rights Section will handle the investigation. Anyone with relevant information can contact the department at civilrights.justice.gov/report.