FAYETTEVILLE -- A federal lawsuit alleging a man's civil rights were violated when he was beaten, cut and raped while being held in the Washington County jail three years ago has been settled for $185,000.
The man's guardian sued Sheriff Tim Helder and a number of jailers in federal court. The defendants generally denied the allegations and asserted qualified and sovereign immunity.
Deliberate Indifference
The conscious or reckless disregard of the consequences of one’s acts or omissions. In law, the courts apply the deliberate indifference standard to determine if a law enforcement professional has violated an inmate’s civil rights. Deliberate indifference occurs when a law enforcement officer knows of and disregards an excessive risk to an inmate’s health or safety.
Source: uslegal.com
Past lawsuits have cost Washington County
A jury in 1996 ordered Washington County to pay $52,504 to a 15-year-old boy who was tortured and sexually assaulted when he was held in the old Washington County Jail’s drunk tank with other youths. In May 1999, the county paid $250,000 to settle a 1996 wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Peggy Sue Shepherd, whose husband, George, was killed at a Fayetteville urology clinic Nov. 7, 1995, by a county prisoner who escaped. Most of the Shepherd settlement was paid by insurance, but the county also paid $52,000 out of its coffers. John Edgar Manning, who was in handcuffs and leg irons, wrestled a revolver away from Deputy Roland “Pete” Williamson and killed him, then shot and killed George Shepherd, who was at the clinic for an appointment. After Shepherd’s death, changes were made and prisoners transported outside the jail were bound with handcuffs attached in front to a chain belt and attached to leg irons.
Source: Staff report
The case was settled for $185,000 with no other terms, according to Jason Owens, an attorney who defended the case. Owens is employed with Rainwater, Holt and Sexton, the law firm hired by the Association of Arkansas Counties to defend the county.
Helder said Friday he agreed to settle, but only with a statement saying his office did nothing wrong. Policies and jail standards were followed, Helder said. No one was fired or reprimanded, he said.
"I'm still convinced to this day that we didn't do anything wrong," Helder said.
Helder said the attorney recommended a settlement because it potentially saves the county money and "exposure" to a trial. The Sheriff's Office was ready for a trial, but it was difficult to know what a jury might say, he said.
"It was a business decision, I suppose," Helder said about agreeing to settle.
Owens said the settlement will be paid by the association's Risk Management Fund, the county's insurer.
An interval review of the incident showed no Sheriff's Office policies were violated, Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Kelly Cantrell said in email.
The incident
On Dec. 12 and Dec. 13, 2013, the 19-year-old victim was a pre-trial detainee being held at the jail on a charge of terroristic threatening, which was later dropped, when he was repeatedly beaten, cut with a razor blade and raped by two of his cellmates, according to the suit. Other detainees told jail staff members about the violence, but they didn't make rounds to monitor activity in the cell, attempt to verify or investigate the reports or otherwise stop the ongoing acts of violence and torture, according to the lawsuit.
The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has a policy of not naming victims in rape or sexual assault cases.
The federal lawsuit was filed March 4, 2016, about a year and a half after one of the attackers was found guilty of criminal charges in the attack.
Javaughntaiye Jamar Willis, then 22, was convicted in November 2014 of two counts of accomplice to rape, accomplice to second-degree sexual assault, accomplice to battery and accomplice to terroristic threatening. Willis, who already had three violent felony convictions, was sentenced to two consecutive 60-year terms at the Arkansas Department of Correction.
The victim testified during Willis' trial that Willis and J'Donta Britt, then 20, slapped, punched, kicked and raped him and cut him with a razor blade. He said they threatened to cut off his pinkie finger if he didn't comply or if he reported the abuse to authorities.
Charges against Britt were dropped after the victim refused to testify again at a trial. Britt was serving a 30-year prison term after he was convicted in 2013 for his role in a beating and robbery in Springdale that left the victim brain-damaged and partially paralyzed.
The federal lawsuit contended the victim was booked into the jail Aug. 13, 2013, and jailers knew he had mental health issues. A judge ordered the man transferred to the Arkansas State Hospital for treatment in November 2013.
The lawsuit contended he wasn't immediately transferred and instead was placed in a disciplinary cell with three known violent inmates, including Willis and Britt, who were in detention for being involved in fights in the jail.
The suit contended there was deliberate indifference to the man's safety. The defendants had a duty to make the jail a relatively safe place for confinement, but jailers weren't properly trained to deal with detainees with mental health issues. Further, the suit claimed there were no policies and procedures in place for protecting detainees with mental health issues and there wasn't enough staff to adequately monitor the cell where the men were being held.
The suit also claimed the man's due process rights to be free from cruel or unusual punishment were violated and the defendants were negligent in failing to adequately house and protect the man and failing to provide him with mental health and medical treatment.
Jail employees checked hourly on the cell where three inmates were held, Helder said. Each inmate was in the cell for disciplinary reasons, he said.
Verification of employees checking the cell is done via scanning devices, Helder said.
During those hours of abuse, no one notified the jailers anything was amiss, Helder said. The next morning, jailers removed the victim for a shower, but he never said anything had happened, he said.
There are no cameras inside the cells for privacy reasons, Helder said. Cells have open bathrooms.
Eventually, an inmate from a neighboring cell notified a jail employee something had happened to the man, Helder said. An investigation verified the man was a victim, he said.
The jail was crowded, with 700-plus inmates, at the time of the incident and space had been limited, Helder said. The three inmates ended up in the same cell, he said. The jail had about 650 inmates last week.
Standards Have Changed
Helder has made no policy changes because of the incident, but standards have changed, Helder said. About a year and a half ago, the jail began a new classification practice that looks at the backgrounds, crimes, mental health screening and other factors of inmates before putting them in cells with other inmates, Helder said.
Even so, the changes likely won't prevent another incident, Helder said. Jail employees work to prevent and predict crime, but it is not possible to prevent everything, he said.
"Is it totally preventable? Honestly, I'd have to say probably not," Helder said.
The suit was seeking compensatory and punitive damages for pain and suffering, temporary and permanent injuries, past and future medical expenses, loss of ability to earn income and scarring and disfigurement.
In addition to Helder, the suit named Randall Denzer, chief jail administrator, along with jailers Lauren Jones, James Morse, Cpl. T. Cobb, Mark Cuzick, Brandon Muggy and up to five "John and Jane Doe" defendants.
"I think it's a fair settlement given the legal defenses in civil rights litigation, most particularly the defense of qualified immunity," said Paul James, one of the attorneys for the victim and his guardian.
Qualified immunity protects public officials from being sued for civil damages unless they violated "clearly established" law of which a reasonable official in his position would have known, according to uslegal.com. It aims to protect civil servants from the fear of litigation in performing discretionary functions entrusted to them by law.
James said the standard of proof to get around such immunity is high in civil rights cases and must go beyond simple negligence to deliberate indifference on the part of county employees.
"That's very important because we understand that if you can assure yourself you're going to get over qualified immunity and you bring these facts in front of a jury, the possibilities could be quite substantial," James said. "But, by the same token it's a very realistic chance that you lose your case completely -- get zero -- based on the defense of qualified immunity. What you have to prove is each individual knew of the dangers and ignored them."
The victim and his guardian declined comment through their other attorney, Louis Etoch.
The joint stipulation of dismissal was filed in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville Jan. 3 and a clerk's order of dismissal the following day, records show.
State prisoners are allowed to sue in federal court for an alleged deprivation of a federally protected or constitutional right by a person acting under the authority of state law. A prisoner may sue the warden or supervisor, a guard or the local government that owns and runs the prison. Subjects are varied, ranging from living conditions to food, religion, medical care, discipline and punishment and other jail-related issues.
The vast majority of federal prisoner civil rights lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville end up being thrown out by a judge as frivolous and the few that do make it to trial are usually rejected by juries.
NW News on 01/28/2017