Pubdate: Sun, 09 May 1999 Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) Copyright: 1999 Post Dispatch Contact: http://www.stlnet.com/ Forum: http://www.stlnet.com/postnet/index.nsf/forums Author: Kim Bell, Post-Dispatch Jefferson City Bureau INMATES' SUITS TARGET WIDE RANGE OF OFFICIALS NIXON VOWS MISSOURI WON'T PAY FOR ALLEGED ABUSE BY TEXAS JAILERS More than 700 men, once known by Missouri as merely prisoners of the state, are now plaintiffs - suing state officials for alleged abuse they suffered at the hands of Texas jailers. The lawsuits followed the 1996 videotaped jail shakedown that showed Missouri prisoners being stomped on, bitten by attack dogs and zapped with a stun gun in Brazoria County, Texas. Although convicted of Missouri crimes, the prisoners were sent to Texas as part of a rent-a-cell program because prisons here were packed. Prisoners blame not only the Texas sheriffs deputies and the private company that ran the jail, they blame leaders of the Missouri Department of Corrections for allegedly ignoring their complaints until the tape surfaced nearly a year later. Attorney General Jay Nixon is representing the state employees against 711 prisoner-plaintiffs in 33 lawsuits. "We're having to deal with about 2 million pages of documents in those cases alone," Nixon said. "It is the largest paper case we've had to deal with in a quick, short time period since I've been attorney general. " Nixon has 26 lawyers on his staff working on the case. He also hired three private lawyers at $100 an hour or less. Lawsuits were filed in Texas and Missouri, in federal and state courts. Most prisoners sued about 40 different entities, from Dora Schriro, the prisons chief of Missouri, to the jailers and sheriffs of Brazoria and other Texas counties that had contracts with Missouri. The prisoners also are going after the private jail-management firm, Capital Correctional Resources Inc. Millions are at stake, but Nixon's chief of staff, Chuck Hatfield, said: "The attorney general has specifically said we are not interested in paying any money on these cases, period." Hatfield said the prisoners' lawyers are negotiating with CCRI's insurance company. The jail management firm had a $2 million insurance policy covering all events that occurred in Texas. Barring a settlement, the earliest trial date would be June 2000. Monstrous workload Because of the monstrous workload, Nixon rented space in an office park east of the Capitol to use as a depository. Ninety-seven boxes and nine filing cabinets fill two rooms. An oversized Texas fly swatter hangs on one wall; on another wall is a map of Texas with color tabs marking seven key counties that held Missouri prisoners. "I think our defenses are strong," Nixon said. "We did not send our prisoners down there to be treated inhumanely." Nixon declined to comment on the specific allegations against Missouri officials. Typical allegations include: * Schriro and the Missouri Department of Corrections "knew or should have known" of the alleged mistreatment through audits and interviews with prisoners. * Prisoners were abused immediately after arriving in Texas. Guards hit, kicked, pushed and shoved the inmates, struck them with riot batons, shocked them with stun guns and forced them to crawl on their stomachs and scream "I love Texas" under threat of physical abuse or punishment. * Missouri dumped violent prisoners on Texas, in violation of the contract, by "improperly and illegally" changing the inmates' security classifications. * Prisoners repeatedly reported the abuse to Missouri, but officials did not do thorough investigations. * Missouri contends the Texas jail warden downplayed the incident and kept the video secret. Missouri has sued Brazoria County for breach of contract. * Missouri failed to review the hiring practices in Texas that put j ailers with violent and criminal pasts in charge of Missouri prisoners. Two jailers at Brazoria County were hired despite misdemeanor convictions for abusing inmates. The head of security in CCRI's Limestone County jail was a former deputy sheriff who was demoted for abusing a handcuffed prisoner. Missouri said it was not aware of their guards' troubled pasts; the hiring was left to the company and Brazoria County. Wilton David Wallace, a CCRI jailer, had served prison time for beating a prisoner 13 years before he came into contact with Missouri inmates. Wallace faces criminal charges for violating the civil rights of Missouri inmate Clarence Fisher in 1996 by ramming Fisher's face into a wall at the Brazoria County Detention Center. The alleged attack was not captured on video; Fisher lost a tooth and required stitches. The criminal trial is set for July 12. On the video, a CCRI guard identified as Wallace steps on an inmate's back and kicks another inmate in the groin as he crawls across the jailhouse floor. Wallace and three deputies face federal criminal charges for their alleged roles in the 1996 videotaped shakedown. All four have pleaded not guilty and await trial Aug. 9 on the civil rights violation charges. Videotape spurs litigation Not until the tape surfaced did Missouri officials begin to take the prisoners' allegations seriously, the suits allege. Prisoners say they signed a complaint and sent it to Nixon. Hatfield declined to comment. Lynn Klement, of Angleton, Texas, represents 25 prisoners in lawsuits. He did not sue any Missouri officials. Instead, he targeted the Brazoria County sheriff, deputies and CCRI. "I really went after the wrongdoers, the perpetrators of the beatings, rather than a shotgun blast where I go after everyone," Klement said. "Missouri's involvement was more benign neglect, ignoring their pleas." The videotape Sept. 18, 1996, was taken by a Texas deputy as part of a training exercise. The sheriff's riot team orders prisoners to crawl into a hallway while jailers shake down the bedding looking for drugs. One deputy holding a black tazer, or stun gun, shocks at least three prisoners on the back or buttocks as they crawl past him. One of the slower-moving prisoners is a young man with a bandaged ankle, who was dragged at times by a deputy. Although this 32-minute video is what sparked the litigation, lawyers say they uncovered as many as 100 videotapes of Missouri prisoners at various jails in Texas. Some of the footage is dry, showing a monotonous stream of prisoners eating or being unloaded from buses. One video shows inmates in Gregg County, Texas, being hosed down as someone adds pepper spray to the water. Klement said other tapes had been erased. In summer 1997, Missouri had 1,091 inmates in Texas jails, a $12 million program that relieved overcrowding at home. Shortly after the videotape surfaced, Missouri ordered the return of all its prisoners. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck