Peter Eliasberg is the Los Angeles County sheriff’s worst nightmare

Peter Eliasberg, photographed for the Los Angeles Times in El Segundo on October 25.

If you Google Peter Eliasberg, the results are misleading: you’ll see him at the movie awards. Galas. Film premieres. Lanky, with perpetually tousled salt-and-pepper hair, he looks a little out of place on the red carpet next to the blonde woman in the photos, his wife, Catherine Dent. She is the actress of the couple.

What you won’t find, because photos are banned from federal courtrooms in downtown Los Angeles, are images of Eliasberg in his, admittedly less glamorous, element doing what he does best. better: argue in front of a judge and sow fear in the heart of Los Angeles. Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

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Currently, three major lawsuits challenge notorious poor conditions and abuses within Los Angeles County’s sprawling system of jails, operated by the Sheriff’s Department. As lead attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Eliasberg represents thousands of inmates in two of these cases. In 2022, Eliasberg and his colleagues revived one of the cases, which dates back to the 1970s, with the explosive discovery that prison staff chained mentally ill people to benches for days at a time. The revelation nearly led to a contempt hearing against the county the following year — which officials narrowly avoided by acquiescing to ACLU demands and making major changes to the downtown inmate reception center .

The other case, led by Eliasberg 12 years ago, centers on beatings and various types of violence inflicted by deputies. Even though the change has stopped, over the past decade jailers have at least stopped beating inmates with flashlights and now hit them in the face much less often than before. That may seem like a low bar for progress, but it’s not the kind of culture change that sheriff’s departments tend to make on their own.

None of these huge litigations are one-man shows: In court, Eliasberg is always flanked by a fierce team of ACLU lawyers. But at 63, he’s been on the case longer than anyone except the judge.