California correctional officers Beat mentally ill inmate
2 California correctional officers kept jobs after beating inmate and lying, report says!
Two California corrections officers should have been fired for beating a mentally ill inmate and then lying about it later, according to a new report released by a state watchdog.
The Office of the Inspector General released a report Wednesday that criticized the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s handling of the incident, as well as the department’s refusal to allow video of the incident to be released to the public with the new report.
“Without explanation, however, the department declined our request, preventing the public from seeing the disturbing video images of this particular use of force and, thereby, reducing the transparency of the department’s actions,” the report said.
The incident occurred Nov. 21, 2018. Two corrections officers, described in the report as “first officer” and “second officer,” were ordered to remove an inmate from an exercise yard at an unidentified prison after the inmate spat on another officer.
The inmate, who had been receiving mental health services from the department, was being escorted out of the exercise yard when, according to the officers, he made “a dramatic movement in an attempt to batter the first officer and escape.”
This was contradicted by the video, according to the report, which showed the inmate walking straight forward when the officers took him to the ground.
AND WE THE PEOPLE ACCEPT
& ALLOW IT
TO
CONTINUE TO HAPPEN, TO THE
INCARCERATED ?
The video recording showed the first officer nodding to the second officer, who then proceeded to put his hands on the inmate’s back. The three men then went behind a tarp and the two officers took the inmate down to the ground, according to the report.
“Although the tarp partially obstructed the camera’s view, it is clear from the recording that once they were on the ground, the first officer struck the incarcerated person with his left fist at least 13 times in rapid succession. The first officer stopped striking the person, but approximately 16 seconds later, he appeared to strike a final blow with an elbow or forearm,” according to the report.
The video, which the department refused to release, appeared to contradict the officers’ testimony, which stated that the inmate was attempting to escape and that he was resisting the officers’ attempts to restrain him.
The department conducted an Office of Internal Affairs investigation, which found that the first and second officer used unreasonable force. The prison warden affirmed the findings.
What followed was an executive review process, during which three department attorneys allegedly “repeatedly made arguments that were not supported by either the facts or the law.”
“We observed these department attorneys give legal advice to the hiring authority that was legally and factually wrong, and demonstrated a profound lack of understanding of a basic legal precept. They were unable to grasp that their advice, while not only wrong, would lead to absurd legal outcomes,” the report said. “Moreover, the department attorneys’ advice to the hiring authority regarding the video evidence was exceedingly poor and lacked even a modicum of common sense.”
The matter was elevated all the way to the undersecretary, who imposed a 60-working-day suspension for both officers, against the objection of the Office of the Inspector General.
“The officers were not truthful or mistaken, but they were dishonest in their reports and interviews, and should have been dismissed,” the report said.
The 60-day suspensions later were converted to a seven-day suspension and the equivalent penalty of $4,560 loss of income for the first officer and a five-day suspension and the equivalent penalty of $3,264 loss of income for the second officer.
Posted by PawneShope
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