Legal News. Dedicated to Protecting Human Rights. Taser The Less Lethal Weapon with a Fatal Attraction to Prisoners. by John E.

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1 P R I S O N Legal News VOL. 17 No. 10 ISSN Dedicated to Protecting Human Rights Taser The Less Lethal Weapon with a Fatal Attraction to Prisoners xtensive medical evidence Estrongly supports the Taser devices will not cause lasting aftereffects or fatality. Taser International literature Tasers, fifty-thousand volt electronic stun guns manufactured by Arizona-based Taser International, are killing and injuring ever more prisoners. Classified in the oxymoronic category of less lethal weapons (see, e.g., California Penal Code et seq.), Tasers have killed unlucky recipients of the devices painful shocks just as dead as more lethal weapons. In many cases, death has resulted when the Taser exacerbates a victim s Inside PHS Cleared in Jail Deaths 9 From the Editor 10 BOP Guards Resist Arrest 12 PLN Kansas Suit Set for Trial 16 Habeas Hints 18 Guantanamo Report Issued 20 FL DOC Cuts Phone Costs 24 $14 Million DC Jail Settlement 29 Mumia Abu Jamal Honored 31 Lethal Injection Challenges 34 NY DOCS Imam Convicted 39 News In Brief 42 Revisiting Rulings Discussed 44 by John E. Dannenberg underlying medical weakness such as a heart condition, or when it is used on a person who is under the influence of drugs or in a state of excited delirium. In other incidents, Taser use is in addition to pepper spray, restraint chairs and physical abuse which results in death by positional asphyxia. While the interrelated causes of such Taser-related deaths are being debated in myriad lawsuits brought by Taser victims families [and even by one police department see PLN, March, 2006, p. 18], prisoners continue to be electrically injured and killed in jails across the United States. PLN originally addressed this issue in a comprehensive article entitled Shocked and Stunned in our June 2005 issue. As indicated below, Taser-related deaths and abuse remain a disturbing, on-going problem that has yet to be resolved. Also note that Tasers have been implicated in numerous deaths caused by police or other law enforcement agencies during arrests where the victims did not die in jail, which are not detailed here. California On December 23, 2004, Sacramento Sheriff s deputies gave an unseasonable present to Marjorie Pino they Tasered her 31-year-old son Ronnie to death, and he died in the Sacramento County Jail on Christmas Eve. I told them he had a bad heart, Marjorie told reporters, referring to the Vega Nerve Stimulator implanted in Ronnie s chest to control grand mal seizures (which resulted from abnormal electrical discharges in his brain). He took medications six times a day for anti-psychotic, heart and epilepsy 1 conditions. Ronnie died 17 hours after being Tasered. Suffering from frequent hallucinations that he was talking with Governor Schwarzenegger, Ronnie had been taken earlier that day to a psychiatric hospital, where he broke a glass door and was confronted by the police. He was Tasered twice, cuffed, and hauled to jail. The next morning a jail doctor phoned Marjorie to inquire what medications Ronnie was on, adding, they were having problems with him. She came to the jail with a bail bond check to take Ronnie home, only to learn that he had died. The cause of death was ruled Sudden Unexpected Death Syndrome, and although Taser injuries were noted in the autopsy report, Taser use was not cited as a factor in Ronnie s death. Davis Cross, 44, died of asphyxiation on September 17, 2005 at the Santa Cruz County Jail. He had been incarcerated on a domestic violence charge, and began yelling and hitting his head against the cell door. He was Tasered after he refused to stop, and then stopped breathing after he was restrained. County Forensic Pathologist Dr. Richard Mason later reported good news, finding the Taser was not the cause of death. Mason found amphetamines in Cross s body and determined that the deputies who restrained him had simply choked him to death. However, the conflation of Tasering and being under the influence of drugs is known to be particularly lethal. On October 20, 2005, 33-year-old Jose Maravilla Perez was Tasered multiple times by police after he violated a restraining order, tried to flee and fought with officers. He was placed in restraints

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3 PUBLISHER Rollin Wright EDITOR Paul Wright ASSOCIATE EDITOR Alex Friedmann EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Donald W. Miniken Jr. COLUMNISTS Mumia Abu Jamal, Denise Johnston, Daniel E. Manville, Kent Russell CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Matthew Clarke, John Dannenberg, Gary Hunter, David Reutter, Mike Rigby, Sam Rutherford, Roger Smith, Silja J.A. Talvi, Bob Williams & Mark Wilson LAYOUT Lance Scott/Catalytic Communications PLN is a Monthly Publication A one year subscription is $18 for prisoners, $25 for individuals, and $60 for lawyers and institutions. Prisoner donations of less than $18 will be pro-rated at $1.50/issue. Do not send less than $9.00 at a time. All foreign subscriptions are $60 sent via airmail. PLN accepts Visa and Mastercard orders by phone. New subscribers please allow four to six weeks for the delivery of your first issue. Confirmation of receipt of donations cannot be made without an SASE. PLN is a section 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. Donations are tax deductible. Send contributions to: 2400 NW 80th Street #148 Seattle WA (206) Fax (206) info@prisonlegalnews.org Please do not mail PLN paperwork for an ongoing case or request legal advice. PLN is not a legal service provider and cannot give legal advice. PLN reports on legal cases and news stories related to prisoner rights and prison conditions of confinement. PLN welcomes all news clippings, legal summaries and leads on people to contact related to those issues. Article submissions should be sent to - The Editor - at the above address. We cannot return submissions without a SASE. Check our website or send a SASE for writers guidelines. PLN is indexed by the Alternative Press Index, Criminal Justice Periodicals Index and the Department of Justice Index. Tasers (cont.) and taken to the San Leandro jail, where he continued to fight and was Tasered again. He stopped breathing and became unresponsive, and died the same day. Cedric Davis, 26, a prisoner at the Merced County jail, was involved in a fight with five guards on March 11, He was shot several times with a Taser and one guard stated he punched Davis twice in the head. Previously, Davis had been handcuffed behind his back for almost a day and a half in a padded cell, as he was behaving erratically. Guards pepper sprayed him when they tried to put him in a restraint chair, which was also when he was Tasered. After being placed in the chair David stopped breathing; he was transported to a local hospital where he was revived, but died about a week later. According to a medic who transported Davis, he had suffered a heart attack. This was an unfortunate situation, but it was not our doing, stated Sheriff Mark Pazin. We did everything right by the numbers. And on May 15, 2006, Los Angeles County agreed to pay $75,000 to the family of Jerry Moreno to settle two federal lawsuits filed after Moreno died at the Pitchess Detention Center in January Moreno, 33, was declared brain dead three days after he attacked other prisoners at the jail and was subdued by an emergency response team that used tear gas and a Taser. He was reportedly under the influence of drugs at the time, and died of a heart attack precipitated by impaired breathing. Colorado Taser shocks and a restraint chair were factors in the death of Raul M. Gallegos-Reyes, who died at Arapahoe County s main jail on August 17, Gallegos-Reyes was reportedly agitated, began screaming in his cell early in the morning, and fought with and bit two deputies, whose names were withheld by the sheriff s office. He was Tasered once, then placed in a restraint chair and checked by medical staff. He lost consciousness and died before he could be taken to a hospital. Questioned whether Taser use had contributed to Gallegos- Reyes death, Sheriff Grayson Robinson stated, That s still part of the investigation that s being conducted. Across the country, wherever a Taser has been 3 deployed, as far as I know, the Taser has not been the cause of death. It s been the result of something else. Florida Byron Black, 39, died on November 27, 2004 after deputies both peppersprayed and Tasered him in his cell at the Lee County jail. Black, an insurance salesman, had been arrested for setting his own van on fire. Lee County Associate Medical Examiner Barbara Wolf determined that the struggle and the Taser shock contributed to Black s death from cardiac arrhythmia, a condition Black had developed from alcohol withdrawal and seizures. The January 2006 autopsy report also revealed that all drug tests were negative. Sheriff s Department Sgt. Larry King declined to comment pending possible litigation. Truck driver Robert Boggan had been in the Escambia County jail for 11 days in August 2005, detained for aggravated assault and assault with a deadly weapon which occurred at a Dollar Tree store during a mental episode. County officials vigorously denied that the August 29 death of the 65-year-old prisoner was due to his being Tasered. They may have a latent defense: Boggan was treated by personnel from notorious medical care contractor Prison Health Services (PHS). In a lawsuit filed by his family in October 2005, it was claimed that guards maliciously shocked Boggan as punishment for not following orders. Jail Director Dennis Williams said Boggan was acting irrationally, and stated no Taser shock was administered the day of his death. The suit alleges quite a different story. After guards had stripped Boggan naked and placed him in a shower cell, each of the four times the Taser s darts were shot into Mr. Boggan s wet chest and he was shocked with 50,000 volts, the entire shower cell walls flashed as if lightning were striking in that small space. Mr. Boggan screamed for his life on each occasion. The complaint goes on to say that Boggan collapsed, was put in a restraining chair and dragged back to his cell, where he remained without medical attention until found dead seven hours later. Things heated up on October 25, 2005, when 200 citizens marched past the jail in a protest, while sympathetic prisoners pounded on windows and waved toilet paper. Estelle Boggan, Robert s widow, described him as a hardworking,

4 Tasers (cont.) church-going man who suffered from schizophrenia. His son Donnell said, we will not stop until we get justice. On November 30, the State Attorney s Office announced it was seeking a coroner s inquest to determine if criminal charges should be filed. At the inquest, Dr. Andrea Minyard testified that being in jail for 11 days caused him to die. She added that Boggan died from heart disease and paranoid schizophrenia, with being placed in a restraint chair and injected with the tranquilizer Haloperidol being contributing factors. The 48 hours Boggan spent in the restraint chair (14 of them in one stint) exacerbated his moderate heart disease, and even trace amounts of Haloperidol can cause cardiac problems, she stated. Dr. Joseph Montastero, the jail s PHS medical director, testified that Boggan was given two injections of a drug cocktail containing 10 mg. of Haloperidol. Testifying for the defendants, Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent Christopher Rigoni stated that the last two times Boggan had been Tasered were four days and three days before he died. The Medical Examiner eventually concluded that the Taser use was not directly linked to Boggan s death. In the history of Escambia County, nine coroner s inquests have been conducted since 1998; none has resulted in criminal charges. Another Escambia County jail prisoner, Jerry Preyer, 45, who suffered from mental illness, died on June 13, 2006 after being Tasered. Preyer, who became aggressive, was initially strapped into a restraint chair. He was released after he calmed down, but then fought with jail guards and was shocked twice with a Taser. The Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement is investigating the incident. Following Preyer s death, in July 2006 Sheriff Ron McNesby restricted the use of Tasers at the jail and asked the county commission for $625,000 to equip four cells with rubber padding to hold mentally ill prisoners. He refused to get rid of Tasers entirely, however, saying it would be unpopular with the jail guards. Further, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush signed a bill into law on June 27, 2006 that requires mandatory training for law enforcement officers who use Tasers, and limits the use of Tasers to situations where suspects or prisoners are physically threatening or attempting to escape. On September 4, 2006, spurred by the deaths of Boggan and Preyer, over 125 people protested in downtown Pensacola, calling for the removal of Tasers from the jail. Participants in the demonstration, which was organized by Movement for Change, chanted Tasers kill, stop the abuse as they marched. 4 Georgia Graphic videotapes of the May 25, 2004 death of prisoner Frederick Williams in the Gwinnett County Jail shocked viewers who watched him lose consciousness after being Tasered five times in 43 seconds. In April 2005 the grand jury, relying solely upon an 11-month police investigation, decided not to investigate the incident. The grand jury was criticized because it declined to view the damning tape, although they were told about it. And what they missed was Williams, shackled and cuffed, pleading for his life before being carried into the jail by 11 deputies, who then Tasered the bucking prisoner in the chest while he was in a restraint chair located in a holding cell. Williams lost consciousness after five minutes, and was then tended to by PHS contract personnel. He died two days later in a Gwinnett hospital. Williams, 31, a Liberian native, had been arrested on domestic violence charges at his Lawrenceville home after his wife, Yanga, called 911 and said he had failed to take his epilepsy medication and had become violent and irrational. District Attorney Danny Porter had asked the grand jury to consider the case, but limited the question to the county s use of the controversial stun guns. The jail s in-chair Tasering policy was tested by two Gwinnett police officers. They reenacted Williams situation by letting themselves be shocked (but only twice) while strapped in. As expected, they reacted in exactly the same manner as Williams had, arching their backs and trying to push out of the restraint chair, not from disobedience but due to the pain of the electric shocks. The pain was so intense that I would have done anything to get away from it, said Gwinnett Police Corporal Damon Cavender. It caused me to scream involuntarily. Lt. William Walsh, the second stun gun guinea pig, reported identical reactions. This was not surprising, because Sgt. Michael Mustachio, who Tasered Williams, selected the drive stun mode of the Taser, applying it directly to Williams chest instead of shooting from a distance. Using the weapon in this way causes intense pain but does not incapacitate a person, according to Taser International. Mustachio s sadism was again revealed when he was fired in February 2005 for killing a neighbor s dog because its barking disturbed him, and then trying to conceal the crime. Sheriff Butch Conway, who viewed the video of Williams being Tasered, said his deputies did nothing wrong. He did, however, change department policy nine months later to forbid the direct application of the Taser ( drive stun mode ) to a prisoner who is partially controlled in the restraint chair or otherwise immobilized, or when sufficient deputies are present. Melvin Johnson, an attorney representing Williams wife and four children, argued there was no reason to Taser him after he was shackled in the restraint chair. While one deputy had his arm around Williams neck and chin and others held his shackled and cuffed arms and legs, Sergeant Mustachio bravely pressed the Taser into Williams midsection, asking after each lurching reaction, Do you want another one? The Atlanta Journal-Constitution showed the video to two former prosecutors and a defense attorney, all of whom said the grand jury should have been allowed to decide if a crime had been committed by deputies. In September 2005, the U.S. Attorney s office announced there was insufficient evidence to pursue federal charges against the Gwinnett deputies involved in Williams death. Johnson filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Williams family on December 7, They gained public support when 200 members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference marched in memory of Williams to the Gwinnett Justice Center in Lawrenceville, calling for an economic boycott of the county to protest those who don t respect human life by Tasering them to death in jail. On January 20, 2006, Gwinnett county attorneys responded by assigning the blame to Taser International, accusing the company of providing false training documents, using biased safety studies, and failing to warn users that repeated use of the stun guns could be lethal. Taser International responded that they were confident their product had nothing to do with Williams death.

5 Gwinnett County s legal problems multiplied in September 2005, when attorney Brian Spears, representing the family of deceased prisoner Ray Charles Austin, sued Sheriff Conway and Prison Health Services, the jail s contract medical care provider, for Austin s September 23, 2003 jailhouse Taser death. The suit alleges that Austin, 24, would not have died if deputies and a PHS nurse had not forced him to take medication, shocked him eight times in a 13 minute period, and choked him. Austin, a schizophrenic, had been arrested for a probation violation. While in jail he bit a deputy; he was injected with psychotropic drugs and restrained in a chair, where he died shortly thereafter. Although the autopsy determined that Austin died of a heart attack, it did not reveal what caused the heart attack. The forced medication was contrary to doctors orders in Austin s medical file. Sadly, it was Austin s resistance to the forced medication that started the altercation which resulted in his death. In Sept. 2005, Gwinnett s chief medical examiner, Dr. Steven Dunton, reported that Taser shocks may have contributed to both Austin and Williams deaths, though he ruled their deaths were due to undetermined causes. Not all of Gwinnett s jail fatalities have involved Tasers, however. In the same four-month period that the two Taser-related deaths occurred, Harriett Washington, 43, died in her cell on October 17, 2005 while cellmates begged PHS employees to provide her with medical care, and Jon Eskew, 49, killed himself on December 1, 2005 by slashing his wrists with a metal jail key. The Gwinnett facility, designed for 1,200 prisoners, housed 1,736 at the time some triple-celled with 476 more farmed out to other Georgia jails. Seventy-seven guard positions were vacant at the facility. Illinois A 13-year veteran deputy sheriff of Champaign County was arrested and suspended with pay on November 15, 2005 for aggravated battery after he used a Taser device on [31-year-old prisoner Ray Hsieh] outside the course of his official duties. Sgt. William Alan Myers was also charged with obstruction of justice for lying in an attempt to cover up his crime. He was booked into the neighboring Piatt County Jail to avoid being housed with prisoners he had been guarding in the Champaign County Jail, and was released hours later on a $1,000 cash bond. On August 25, 2006, prosecutors filed a third charge against Myers, a felony charge of disorderly conduct, for having submitted a report falsely claiming that Hsieh had spit on two other guards. Myers is due in court on all three charges on Oct. 3, Hsieh received a confidential settlement from the county as a result of the Tasering incident, in an amount under $10,000. Indiana Former Monroe County jailer David Shaw is facing two felony charges of battery after using a Taser to shock a prisoner, who later died, in November Shaw repeatedly used the Taser on 47- year-old James Borden while Borden was being booked into the jail on a probation violation. He was handcuffed at the time. According to an autopsy, Borden had a heart disorder and an enlarged heart, and both drug intoxication and the Taser shock contributed to his death. Shaw is scheduled to go to trial on October 16, 2006; a civil lawsuit filed by Borden s family resulted in a $500,000 settlement. Michigan On September 14, 2006, former Powell County deputy Michael Brown pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of assault and official misconduct for Tasering a prisoner without cause. In accepting the plea bargain, Brown avoided a more serious felony charge. He was arrested following a March 28, 2006 alternation with jail prisoner Reuben Heath, who was being held for resisting arrest. Brown was the arresting officer. While handcuffed in a holding cell and lying on a bunk, Heath was Tasered by Brown through the cell door s food slot, reportedly because he refused to comply with Brown s orders. Brown, who was running for Sheriff at the time of the gratuitous Tasering, was sentenced to two years probation and forced to surrender his police certification. North Carolina Non-English-speaking Honduran citizen Carlos Claros-Castro, 28, was arrested on January 6, 2006 for drunk driving, speeding, not reporting an accident and not having a license. Less than a day later he was dead in the Davidson County Jail after an altercation with two guards. Apparently Claros-Castro failed to understand a command by guards, which led to a confrontation. Alone in a secure cell, he was Tasered three or four times, pepper sprayed, placed in a restraint chair and When you can t be there... Have you been physically or sexually abused in prison? Did you file a grievance? 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6 Tasers (cont.) beaten with an ASP baton, after which he died. Sheriff David Grice s original report stated that Claros-Castro was out of control. An attorney provided by the Honduran Consul said calling this an altercation was putting it lightly, and asserted that an injustice has certainly been done. The district attorney s office agreed, and second-degree murder charges were filed against jailers Brandon Huie and Ronald Parker. Two autopsies concluded that Claros-Castro s death was a homicide, citing bruises, bleeding in his neck and brain, wounds from Taser shocks and signs of asphyxiation. Huie pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter; he received a month sentence on June 30, Parker decided to take the case to a jury trial in August 2006, where he was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and received months in prison. Claros- Castro s family is preparing to file a civil lawsuit against the county. Ohio While the proverbial feline may survive nine fatal events, nine 5-second 50,000 volt jolts by Tasers proved deadly to 41-year-old Jeffrey Turner after he was arrested on January 31, 2005 in Toledo. According to his family s attorney, Turner was holding his Bible and praying silently outside the closed Toledo Museum of Art when police, after challenging him for refusing to identify himself, Tasered him five times. Becoming combative, Turner was carried to the Lucas County jail by deputies, where guards Tasered him four more times. A nurse sent to his cell to check on him found him dead. The coroner reported evidence of pre-existing cardiac disease, including an enlarged heart. Turner was also on schizophrenia medication. The coroner ruled on April 13, 2005 that the repeated Tasering contributed to the death, making it a homicide. Steve Tuttle, Taser International s vice-president of communications, reiterated his company s belief that Tasers save lives, adding, we are unaware of any scientific data that suggests the use, or multiple uses of a Taser device would result in this regrettable outcome. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) impliedly disagreed in early 2005 the SEC opened an informal inquiry into Taser International s statements concerning the safety of their devices, though the agency eventually concluded that no enforcement action should be taken. Dr. Bruce Wilkoff, a cardiologist at the famed Cleveland Clinic, opined that because of the timing proximity, it sounds like the Taser is likely to have caused [Turner s death]. Toledo Police Chief Mike Navarre apparently was similarly concerned. After Turner s death, Navarre suspended the use of Tasers and enacted a proactive policy requiring any suspect shocked by a stun gun to first pass a medical examination at a hospital before being booked into the county jail. The matter may well be resolved in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, where Turner s mother, Betty, filed a lawsuit on January 30, 2006 against the nine Toledo police officers and three Sheriff s deputies involved. On February 14, 2006, county commissioners approved $75,000 to hire three law firms to defend against the suit. Separately, the NAACP has asked the FBI to investigate possible civil rights violations. South Carolina Maurice Cunningham died in the Lancaster County Jail on July 23, 2005 after a Sheriff s deputy Tasered him for an uninterrupted 2 minutes, 49 seconds before he collapsed during a fight with four guards, according to the autopsy report. The minutes-long electrocution came after Cunningham was shocked five other times, ranging in length from five to nine seconds each, the report said. Taser International s X-26 Taser records the duration of each shock. While normally the weapon activates automatically for 5 seconds, the X-26 can be continually energized by holding down the trigger. In this case, the Taser s darts connected between Cunningham s left thigh and left arm, which completed a circuit that disrupted the electrical system controlling his heart. His heart had been damaged at the cellular level by the shocks; Coroner Mike Morris ruled that the Taser caused fatal cardiac arrhythmia of the 29-yearold prisoner. Pathologists at the Medical University of South Carolina also noted that Cunningham, who had a history of schizophrenia, had no medications detectable in his blood at the time, although Abilify and Risperdal had been prescribed. The night before the attack, Cunningham 6 had reported seeing snakes in his cell. Guards stated they subdued Cunningham after he had stabbed two guards in the eyes with pencils and lunged at two others, according to the Sheriff s office and two prisoner witnesses. Cunningham was in jail awaiting trial for assault and battery with intent to kill. Amnesty International spokesman Ed Jackson stated he had never heard of such a long Taser shock, recalling the previous record was 50 seconds in a Chicago incident. They train officers to shock them until they comply... There needs to be serious examination of training programs to make sure they re consistent with what we now know about Tasers, he said. In fact, in June 2005, Taser International issued a bulletin warning police to avoid uninterrupted and multiple shocks, admitting that certain people could suffer from potentially fatal health risks as a result of over-exertion or impaired breathing. The Charlotte chapter of the Harlembased National Action Network called for an end to the use of Tasers. Tennessee Chris McCargo is fortunate that he didn t die after a deputy at the Bradley County jail shocked him in the neck with an M26 Taser. He did, however, remain in a coma for months. Jailers attempted to put McCargo, who was charged with public drunkenness, in a restraint chair. According to Alonzo Howard, a prisoner who witnessed the incident, That s when [jail] Lieutenant Michael Cooper pulled a Taser out and stuck it to the right side of his neck. Just Tased him right there, you know. Hours later McCargo had a seizure and lapsed into a coma. The sheriff said cameras at the jail had failed to record several hours during the time that McCargo was restrained and shocked, and refused to comment further. The FBI is assisting with an investigation into the incident. Other former prisoners have since come forward, stating they were subjected to inappropriate Taserings by jail guards. Brian Woodby said he was shocked 4 to 6 times on the lower stomach and genitals while strapped to a gurney by Lt. Michael Cooper, the same guard who used a Taser on McCargo. Woodby had been a passenger in a car in which the driver was arrested for DUI, and had not been charged with any crime. Jason Adams, another former prisoner, claimed he was Tasered while laying facedown on a shower floor at the jail. In November 2005,

7 three former Bradley County jail prisoners filed a federal lawsuit alleging the use of Tasers on handcuffed prisoners, among other claims. Texas On Friday the 13th, January 2006, 29- year-old Daryl Kelley s luck ran out in the Harris County Jail. Kelley, who was 6 2 and weighed 300 lbs., collapsed in his cell 40 minutes after an Emergency Response Team guard Tasered him to facilitate a cell move. Sheriff s Department Maj. Don McWilliams said, It is fully routine to use Tasers to move large, violent inmates. It may also have been routine to beat him as well, as alleged by his relatives. Quanell X, a Black Panther Nation spokesman, accused deputies of murdering Kelley. Pearline Kelley, Daryl s mother, said her son had bi-polar disorder and became violent only when not on his medications. He was just sick, she lamented. They Tasered him to death, she continued. They killed him at the county jail. Kelley s crime was the unauthorized use of a car. Just three days later, 24-year-old African-American Shmekia Lewis died in Jefferson County s Mid-County Jail in Beaumont, two hours after she was Tasered during booking. Adjacent holding cell occupant Jason Chambliss related, She was arguing and hollering and carrying on so they decided to go in there and beat up on her a little bit. They hog-tied her hands and feet to the toilet, which is metal, and Tasered her over and over again. They also gave her a shot of something with a syringe. She was real quiet after that. One guard was yelling, turn it up, turn it up, hit her again. They wanted to throw her in the shower next and Taser her there, but changed their minds and left her where she was. Noel Casper, another prisoner in a nearby cell, corroborated Chambliss account by telephone, adding, When they were done they just left her there. When they came back about two hours later and saw she wasn t moving that was when all hell broke loose. Several days later, on January 21, 2006, in sworn a ffi d av i t s, b o t h prisoners recanted the statements they originally made to the Port Arthur News. Sheriff Woods denied having hog-tied Lewis, claiming she was restrained in an upright position and only Tasered once. One can only wonder, with the two percipient witnesses having inexplicitly recanted their previous statements (while still in the sheriff s custody), why the preliminary autopsy report revealed no obvious cause of death. Washington In sharp contrast to Texas justice, Spokane County Sheriff Mark Sterk was open to a fair determination of the cause of death of 39-year-old Benites Saimon Sichiro, who died during surgery after being Tasered and three fights with guards. Autopsy results indicated that Sichiro died from a lacerated liver, which came from blunt force to his torso. Although Spokane guards admitted kneeing Sichiro in the torso twice during violent scuffles, and admitted Tasering him three times, they were unsure if their actions caused the fatal injury. Sichiro had already garnered a black eye, bruised lip, swollen face, and neck and groin abrasions, which may have come from pre-arrest fights. However, his niece, Sisi Rudolph, said the pre-arrest altercation only caused the black eye and facial abrasions. During a cell move Sichiro allegedly bit a guard on the arm, at which point the kneeing occurred and he lost consciousness. Jail staff administered CPR while they awaited an ambulance. Medical examiner reports expressed doubt that Tasering caused Sichiro s death. Regardless, Sheriff Sterk wanted to ascertain if a homicide occurred from pre-arrest injuries or in-custody injuries. If we re involved in this and we caused these injuries, we want to make sure that we document them well... and the truth JAMES A. SKIDMORE II Attorney at Law 560 N Arrowhead Ave., #5B San Bernardino, CA Appeals & Writs Lifer Hearings Revocation/Extension Hearings Misdemeanor/Felony Trials California Cases Only 7 comes out about how we handled the situation, he stated. Sheriff Sterk will have company. The FBI joined the investigation in February All eight guards involved in altercations with Sichiro were placed on routine administrative leave but were reinstated a few days later. Taser International Under Scrutiny Not surprisingly, Taser International has been scrutinized due to the shocking number of deaths caused by its products. Many investors who took stock in the numerous reports of in-custody Taserrelated fatalities have sold their stock LEARN TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO Adequate medical care Protection from assault Humane living conditions Safety from officer abuse Learn how to defend your basic human rights with the comprehensive litigation guide, Protecting Your Health and Safety, written specifically for inmates who are unable to receive help from a lawyer. WRITTEN BY ROBERT E. TOONE A PROJECT OF THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER COST $10 (includes shipping/handling) ORDER A COPY Send a check or money order to Protecting Your Heath and Safety 2400 NW 80th Street #148 Seattle, WA (206) Be sure to include your name, identification number (if any), and mailing address. If using a credit card, please include the type of card (VISA or Mastercard), card number, and expiration date. Upon request, prison law libraries will be sent a copy at no cost. This book does not deal with legal defense against criminal charges or challenges to convictions that are on appeal. Edition last revised in 2002.

8 Tasers (cont.) (NASDAQ symbol TASR), driving the price down from a high of $33 to $7.59/ share as of September 15, Not only did sales slump, but profits plummeted as well. Jittery investors were further spooked by a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission probe into whether manipulated information tainted stock sales. Additionally, the SEC questioned company executives who dumped their own shares just before a large drop in the stock price in November A class-action suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Arizona on behalf of shareholders alleging securities fraud, and on August 9, 2006 it was reported that Taser International had agreed to settle the case and several similar lawsuits for $20 million plus $1.75 million for the plaintiffs attorney fees. The company also took a charge of $18 million for its own litigation and related expenses. Taser International further bowed to an investigation by Arizona s Attorney General s office, which demanded more accurate product warnings, particularly to limit the use of the term non-lethal. The Attorney General s complaint was that Taser International s safety claims may have understated the risks of serious harm. The firm agreed in December 2005 to an 18- point product warning and made changes in its training materials, including acknowledging the stun gun s dangerousness, changing the way the company uses the word safe, limiting medical safety claims, and deleting statements that Tasers are harmless. Nonetheless, while the company continues to maintain that its stun guns have never caused a death or serious injury, with the same fervor of Tobacco Institute scientists who once insisted that smoking had no relationship to lung cancer, in a March 2006 report Amnesty International found there have been 156 deaths following Taser use in the U.S. and Canada since In seven of those cases medical examiners or coroners determined that Tasers were the cause of death, while in 16 cases Tasers were found to be a contributing factor. Separately, the Metropolitan Municipalities EMS Medical Directors Association, representing doctors in emergency medical departments in 30 major cities, recommended in February 2006 that Tasers be used only sparingly, when possible. They acknowledged the syndrome of lethality that attends psychologically medicated victims who are shocked. Their recommendation came shortly after a study published in the January 2006 Journal of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers, which concluded that electric shocks from Tasers were 39 times more powerful than the manufacturer claimed, and sufficiently strong to cause fatal heart rhythms. The study s author, James Ruggieri, found that the Taser M18 produced 14 pulses per second at 50 watts per pulse, versus the manufacturer s claim of 10 pulses per second at 1.76 watts per pulse. These findings place the weapon well into the lethal category, he concluded. Taser International begs to differ and is suing Ruggieri for defamation, including for his expert testimony in a wrongful-death lawsuit in Taser brands Ruggieri as lacking in requisite technical expertise (calling him a high school dropout with no medical training, despite Ruggieri s master s degree in computer science and professional engineer licensing in five states), and labels his claims exaggerated, erroneous and beyond the laws of physics. Independent Stanford graduate engineer Robert Nabours found Ruggieri s conclusions credible, including Ruggieri s observation that the electrical resistance of skin tissue breaks down under shock, permitting Tasers to deliver 704 watts of power as opposed to the advertised 18 watts. The Journal article was peer reviewed prior to publication. Additional research may bolster or undercut the company s claims regarding the safety of its products. Dr. Christine Hall, a Canadian emergency room physician, is presently working on a proposed national research project to understand the effects of Tasers and pepper spray on people who exhibit an agitated state known as excited delirium. The three-year study, funded by $1.5 million from the Canadian Police Research Centre, will examine suspects who die in police custody as a result of Taser shocks or pepper spray exposure. Taser International already admits that its less lethal weapons could be deadly when used on people suffering from excited delirium. A June 2005 bulletin from the company cautioned against repeatedly Tasering such victims. A Not-So-Stunning Outlook If Taser International suffers financially from lawsuits for wrongful deaths caused by its less lethal stun gun weapons, it won t cause any pain to the firm s 8 chairman, Phillips Smith (who recently announced his retirement), its president, Tom Smith, or its CEO, Rick Smith. The trio sold their stock in the company in late 2004 for over $90 million, far exceeding the $25 million Taser earned in the past four years even in cumulative revenues. And just in time. Taser s 2005 fourth-quarter report revealed a 98% drop in profits on lower sales and higher expenses as the company fought lawsuits, including $7 million the firm invested in public relations efforts to shore up its flagging image. CEO Rick Smith reported that 40 new lawsuits were filed against Taser in 2005, leaving a backlog of 43 lawsuits after 12 were dismissed. The firm s future profitability may well be tied to its latest products. The company has marketed a camera-equipped Taser, the Taser-cam, which is being touted in a The Truth is Undeniable ad campaign. Taser International is also developing 12-gauge shotgun shells that deliver less lethal shocks up to 300 feet away. Funded by $500,000 from the U.S. Office of Naval Research, Taser hopes to release the product in It will truly cause incapacitation, said company spokesman Steve Tuttle. The extended Range Electra-Muscular Projectile (XREP) will reportedly deliver the blunt-force trauma of a fast-moving baseball plus the electrical shock of a stun gun. Presumably, Taser will continue its practice of training its law enforcement customers to test the company s less lethal weapons on their own officers, to verify the product s safety. But not everyone is willing to try Tasers on their own personnel. The Aberdeen Proving Grounds, where the Army develops and tests weapons, found that testing Tasers on Army personnel in training is not recommended, given the potential risk. Sources: Associated Press, Arizona Republic, Barron s, Palm Beach Post, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Sun-Sentinel, The Ledger, Pensacola News Journal, Miami Herald News, Orlando Sentinel, Gwinnett Daily Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kansas City Star, Urbana News-Gazette, New York Times, USA Today, Spokesman Review, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Charlotte Observer, The Herald, Tuscaloosa News, WFMY News2 (Greensboro), Beaumont Enterprise, Port Arthur News, KBTV4 News, KPRC2 News, UPI.

9 Board of Commissioners Clears PHS In Three Leon County (Florida) Jail Deaths After three jail deaths between May 2003 and October 2004, the Leon County Board of Commissioners met to consider the Sheriff s reports on the three deaths and any implications regarding the jail s healthcare provider, PHS. Two of the deaths were in litigation. In spite of highly suspicious circumstances in the overmedication death of one prisoner, the Board approved the report clearing PHS. PHS was hired in 2002 for approximately $3.5 million/yr. to provide medical, mental health, and dental services for the 1,250 prisoners in the Leon County Jail. Approximately prisoners visit the jail s clinic daily, including those receiving medication. Medications are shipped daily from Secure Pharmacy Plus, PHS s subsidiary. Leon County maintains oversight of PHS through Alliance Medical Management Corp. Leon County Jail is one of 21 county lockups in Florida accredited by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. Accreditation must be renewed annually, although site evaluation only occurs every three years. In addition, a medical review committee is convened whenever three prisoner complaints surface on the same subject. In 2002, the Board approved mental health peer review oversight of the jail s mentally ill, hiring both a Mental Health Coordinator and Florida Partners in Crisis, Inc. The Three Deaths On October 31, 2004, prisoner Steven Tomaino, 32, hung himself in his cell before dinner. He had not given any suicidal indications either to staff or other prisoners, and had no mental health record. However, the required hourly cell checks were not made that day. It was determined that guard Patricia Harris had made false entries in her log to the effect that she had conducted searches at 1650 and 1750 hrs. When confronted with prisoner and fellow guard statements that she had not searched, she finally admitted that she doesn t have time for that. She had left to make a personal phone call that day, and falsified her log -- at Tomaino s expense. She was found administratively guilty of gross violation of integrity. by John E. Dannenberg Clyde Fuller, 26, died in a restraint chair on June 12, He had been disruptive during booking and screamed and spat at staff. After he was pepper sprayed, he was placed in the restraint chair in the back of the jail medical unit, where he was discovered dead approximately 23 minutes later. On his intake medical inquiry, Fuller answered that he had seizures as a currently treated medical problem, but that he had not taken his prescribed medication. He also stated that he had not taken any drugs or alcohol prior to his arrest. The autopsy showed marijuana and significant cocaine in his system, plus revealed ongoing heart and vascular disease. His death was ruled to fit sudden custody death syndrome. On May 16, 2003, 40 year-old Ruth Hubbs also died in a jail medical unit cell, two days after being booked. She appeared to be acting overmedicated, talking incoherently to herself for hours while sitting on the floor. She had been prescribed Doxepin, but her autopsy showed an extensive overdose condition. It could not be determined whether she secretly saved (cheeked) pills and took an overdose or if PHS had overmedicated her. PHS physician Dr. Sadat Mansouri indicated he had switched Hubbs medication from Prozac to Doxepin and increased her dose from 100 mg. to 250 mg. per day, in addition to prescribing 600 mg. of lithium for bipolar disorder. He said that the drug switch was made expressly to cut costs, even though Doxepin was an older drug. Dr. Mansouri stated that these drugs would not build up over time in the body and become toxic. But the toxicology report showed 3.9 mg./ liter of Doxepin in Hubbs blood, whereas the recommended therapeutic level was 0.02 mg./liter Researching the pharmacy records, there was an unaccounted-for excess of 900 mg. of Doxepin taken by Hubbs in the two day period prior to her death. As we reported in the April, 2006 issue of PLN, on August 29, 2005, PHS settled the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Hubbs parents for $350, PHS can t explain No one from PHS could explain how Hubbs got this excess. No one, except former PHS Director of Nursing Emily Beck, who told Hubbs attorney that Hubbs medical file had been materially altered, with some key reports removed. Beck called PHS a train wreck waiting to happen. Beck stated that she believed Hubbs death was preventable and that Hubbs received substandard care from PHS. The investigative report also found that PHS used employees who were not licensed, certified or didn t hold RN or LPN degrees to evaluate mental health patients, counsel them, and dispense narcotic medications to them. Moreover, there was no medication-cart inventory. When one medication is substituted for another, there is no accounting for the disposition of the now unused drugs. At last report, the State Attorney General s office was reviewing the case for possible criminal charges and a Grand Jury review. Source: Board of County Commissioners Agenda Request 43 (August 30, 2005), with Sheriff s reports. HARVEY R. COX, MS Corrections Consultant (Both Federal and State Inmates) 32 years Correctional Employment, including Federal, State, & Private Prisons (Warden at 3 Institutions) Reasonable Rates for Assistance in: PSI Review Prior to Sentencing (Impacts on Prison Designation and Programs) Prison Transfers Parole Representation (Not Texas State Inmates) Prison Grievances (Administrative Remedies) Expert Witness PO Box 1551 Weatherford, TX (817) Fax: (817) hrcox@yahoo.com 9

10 As the year comes to an end we will soon be sending out PLN s annual fundraiser letter. A PLN supporter who wishes to remain anonymous has pledged to match all donations to PLN, up to the amount of $15,000, dollar for dollar that are made between October 1, 2006 and January 31, As most readers probably know, the amount charged for subscriptions and advertising income, do not completely cover all of PLN s operating expenses. The difference between what magazine subscriptions and advertising income and what our costs actually are has always been made up by reader donations. PLN just celebrated its 16th anniversary of monthly publishing. We are the only independent nationally circulated prisoner rights publication that is still publishing, as well as the longest lived at this point. In addition to bringing our readers the latest news and information on detention facilities we are also advocating on behalf of prisoners locally and nationally; standing up for the rights of prisoners and publishers to send literature to prisoners; seeking transparency and accountability in prisons and jails via public records laws and a lot more. There are a lot of worthy causes out there but not only is no one else doing what PLN is doing, we re small enough that even a small donation goes a long way and makes a difference. We have no bloated administrative overhead, paid consultants or similar expenses. Every penny raised goes into the magazine and advocacy on behalf of prisoners, period. And that money goes a long way. In the past year alone PLN won a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the federal Bureau of Prisons seeking information on all money paid out in litigation by the BOP; submitted amicus briefs in several US supreme court cases on behalf of prisoner plaintiffs; successfully urged Yale University to divest itself of Corrections Corporation of America stock; confronted and questioned former US attorney general John Ashcroft about the racist application of the federal death penalty; has sought to stop the resumption of medical experiments on prisoners and a lot more. That s in addition to publishing a monthly magazine, speaking at events, conferences and schools, litigation, etc. And we are doing this with 4 full-time employees! From the Editor by Paul Wright Nowhere else will your donation, large or small, generate as much bang for the buck. Needless to say, with more money we could do a lot more. Between now and January we will report on the status of the fundraiser. Please make a donation to ensure we get the entire $15,000 matching grant. Overall I am very happy being PLN s editor and there is nothing else I would rather be doing than this. However, the saddest thing about being PLN s editor and also the bad thing about being around this long, is that inevitably our friends and supporters die. It is with great sadness that I report that on August 8, 2006, Thomas Sellman, 47, died in Seattle, Wash. Thomas was originally a cameraman in film and television. Among the movies he helped film was a documentary on the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola and the Field of Dreams. Shortly after moving to Seattle he became active in the Prison Awareness Project, a volunteer group at the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe, Wash., which is where I first met him. Thomas had a keen sensitivity and empathy for the plight and suffering of others. In 1999 he was arrested while handing out leaflets at demonstrations against the 10 World Trade Organization in Seattle and spent two days in jail as a result. He was later one of the named plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit filed by the ACLU which challenged the assorted restrictions on free speech imposed on WTO protestors. See: Hankin v. City of Seattle, 444 F.3d 555 (9th Cir. 2005). It was his arrest and two days in jail for exercising his right to free speech that led Thomas to go to law school. He graduated from the University of Washington law school in While he was attending law school Thomas worked as a work study student in PLN s Seattle office where he did everything from lay out for the magazine to research, fact checking and answering the phone. Not only was Thomas a tireless advocate for the rights of prisoners but he was always friendly, well spoken, cheerful and thoughtful. Upon graduating from law school Thomas was working on both prisoner rights and criminal defense cases. Everyone at PLN is sad and mournful at Thomas s untimely passing. We have all lost both a friend and a colleague. He is survived by his parents Thomas and Zelda and his brother James. We extend our condolences to his family. Focus on Sex Offenders Increases While Number of Sex Offenses Decline In September, 2006 the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics released its annual Crime Victimization report for 2005, which indicated a dramatic drop in the number of rapes and sexual assaults nationally. The 191,670 reported incidents represent an almost 10 percent decline in rape and sexual abuse from the previous year and a reduction of more than 25 percent since In fact, since 1993 the number of reported rapes and sexual assaults has dropped over 60 percent. Criminal justice experts attribute this decline to longer sentences for sex offenders as well as more therapy and a wider use of psychotropic drugs used to treat them. Also, the number of people convicted of sex crimes is rising more quickly than for all other crimes except drugs, and the increased incarceration of sex offenders has helped drive down the number of sexual assaults. The decline in reported sexual offences also applies to children. According to David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, who analyzed incidents of child abuse reported to protection agencies, sexual assaults of children aged 12 to 17 dropped by 79 percent between 1993 and However, in 2005 state legislators passed over 150 sex offender-related laws, more than double the number the year before, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. And this trend shows no sign of slowing; indeed, the volume of sex offender legislation appears to be increasing nationwide. Within the past year states have passed laws that are increasingly restrictive, with at least 16 states imposing limits on where sex offenders can live and requiring GPS satellite tracking after they are released. Two states, Oregon and South Carolina,