A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy

Or, in other words: The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.

A federal jury on Wednesday convicted former Los Angeles County Undersheriff Paul Tanaka of deliberately impeding an FBI investigation, capping a jail abuse and obstruction scandal that reached to the top echelons of the Sheriff's Department.

The head of that fish was definitely rotten:

In the jail abuse scandal that has roiled the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and resulted in the convictions of more than a dozen officials, one question has remained open: How high did the corruption go?

Retired Sheriff Lee Baca admitted in federal court Wednesday that it went all the way to the top.

Baca, who left office two years ago, pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents and federal prosecutors investigating the beatings of inmates and visitors at the nation's largest jail system. As part of a surprise plea deal with the U.S. attorney's office, Baca acknowledged for the first time taking an active role in trying to stymie the federal probe, even allowing a team of deputies to confront one FBI agent at her home.

The rot began at the head, but from reading only some of the stories about abuse at the LA County Jail, the rot went all the way down.