The move comes just days after embattled Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca announced his own internal review of cases that have brought scrutiny to his department's criminal justice policies.

Those cases include a reported incident in which a rookie deputy was ordered to beat a mentally ill inmate by his supervisor, according to the Los Angeles Times.

One proposal on the table for Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting was forwarded by members Zev Yaroslavsky and Mark Ridley-Thomas, and proposes the creation of a five-person "Citizen's Commission" specifically tasked to look into abuse in the jail system.

The scope of the commission will include a "review of the nature, depth and cause of the problem of inappropriate deputy use of force in the jails, and recommend corrective action as necessary," according to the text of the measure.

The second measure, forwarded by LA County Supervisor Gloria Molina, advocates installing surveillance cameras in county jails, a use-of-force policy overhaul, and monthly progress reports to the Board of Supervisors.

"Accountability at the Sheriff's department is long overdue," said Molina in a statement.  "The very credibility of the Sheriff’s Department is at stake.  Its integrity can be restored only if Sheriff Baca and his team wholeheartedly accept reform.  It speaks volumes when we hear stories of top scoring Sheriff’s Deputy recruits opting out of a law enforcement career—and in this economy, no less—because of first-hand experience with excessive use of force."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, a court-appointed monitor of prison conditions in L.A. County, released a report in late September documenting hundreds of inmate complaints about deputy-on-inmate abuse. The report also includes testimony from civilian witnesses, including two chaplains and a volunteer tutor.

One chaplain, who was not identified in the ACLU report, recalled that "he saw four or five deputies repeatedly kicking an inmate. The inmate was lying motionless, facedown on the ground. His hands appeared to be tucked behind his back; they remained there throughout the attack. The inmate pleaded with the deputies to stop, yelling, 'help me.'"

"I was afraid that if I had tried to stop the beating or even just yell at the deputies to stop, they would come over and hurt me," the chaplain said, according to the report.

Baca's department is also taking heat from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, which, according to the Los Angeles Times, is also looking into deputy abuse of inmates in the jails.

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