Sheriff Bernie Giusto is facing a class-action lawsuit over
strip searches at his jails—but that’s not the worst of it.
Giusto has also received the unwelcome news that County Chair Ted
Wheeler wants to wrestle control of the jails away from the
sheriff.
Attorney Leonard Berman is suing Giusto and the county on behalf of
Riley Hinds, a former inmate at the Multnomah County Detention Center
(MCDC)—both in Hinds’ individual capacity, and on behalf of a
class of others similarly situated—for violating his civil rights
by strip searching him after he was arrested on a mistaken warrant for
a purported probation violation on July 24, 2006.
“The county has a blanket policy of strip searching inmates at the
jail,” says Berman. “Even for misdemeanor or violation charges where
there is no reasonable suspicion to believe an inmate is carrying a
weapon or other contraband.”
Berman contends that blanket strip-search policies like the one in
operation at MCDC are unconstitutional, and is appealing to anyone who
has been strip searched at the jail following a misdemeanor arrest over
the last two years to come forward and share in any eventual
settlement.
However, Berman’s lawsuit is likely to be the least of Giusto’s
worries. Wheeler told the Oregonian on November 29 he plans a
push to remove responsibility for the jails from the sheriff’s
office—the day after a consultant’s report slammed Giusto’s
mismanagement of the system.
The report, which criticized over-generous leave packages given to
jail employees, follows another highly critical report issued by
District Attorney Mike Schrunk’s office in 2006.
It also follows recurring allegations by inmates at the jail about
their mistreatment at the hands of sheriff’s deputies inside [“Jail
Guards Run Wild,” News, Sept 13] and an ongoing FBI investigation into
at least one of those allegations [“Completely Fed Up,” News, Sept
27].
“This is an opportunity for Giusto to stand up with me and the
District Attorney and agree that these proposals are in the broad
interests of the community,” Wheeler told the Mercury on
Tuesday, December 11, after presenting four outline proposals for a new
jail management structure to his fellow county commissioners that
morning.
“Any of these proposals increases, in my opinion, public
accountability,” Wheeler continued. Should Giusto not consent by the
end of this week, Wheeler’s proposals are likely to go to the ballot at
the same time Giusto is scheduled to appear before a moral fitness
committee at the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training
(DPSST) in Salem next spring.
The DPSST will decide on Giusto’s moral fitness for duty in
connection with his alleged knowledge of former Governor Neil
Goldschmidt’s sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl when Giusto was
Goldschmidt’s driver in the 1980s.
Sheriff Giusto did not return a call for comment, while his
spokesman Travis Gullberg says it is against policy to comment on open
litigation.