Punched in the Head

A NEW REPORT written by an Oregon use-of-force instructor
makes troubling allegations about Multnomah County Detention Center
(MCDC) deputies routinely punching inmates in the head as a control
technique.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by the Mercury last
week, is written by Howard Webb, an independent use-of-force consultant
and expert witness who worked for the Oregon Department of Public
Safety Standards and Training between 1988 to 1999.

As part of a federal lawsuit going to trial on December 8, attorneys
for Michael Evans asked Webb to watch video of Evans being beaten by
deputies in the booking area of the downtown MCDC in September 2006
[“Summary Injustice,” News, July 19, 2007].

In the video, Sheriff’s Deputy Richard Hathaway kicks, then punches
Evans four times, bringing him to the ground. In a use-of-force report
on the September 11, 2006 incident, Hathaway wrote that he controlled
Evans using two “focused blows” with his right closed fist, after Evans
“struck me in the nose during booking.”

Webb describes the force used on Evans as “unreasonable and
excessive,” in his report, adding that Hathaway was not struck in the
nose.

Evans has since been jailed for having sex with a minor and on
assault charges. He has a lengthy criminal history and is unlikely to
see his release before 2020. He also recently wrote the Mercury from prison, encouraging us to cover the civil trial related to his
beating. Evans’ attorney, Benjamin Haile, declined comment with trial
pending and is seeking $60,000 in damages for the assault, in addition
to $360,000 in punitive damages.

It is likely that attorneys for the county will invoke Evans’
character as their main defense against the allegations concerning his
beating. But regardless of the Evans case, Webb appears to have also
uncovered a broader pattern of excessive force at the jail based on his
review of use-of-force reports.

“It is my opinion that there is a pattern of the use of excessive
force on inmates by correction deputies,” he writes in the report, a
copy of which can be downloaded from the Mercury’s website. “In
reviewing the Hazardous Incident Reports provided to me, I observed a
pattern of deputies using excessive force by striking inmates with
closed fists on the face, head, back, and abdomen.”

Often, Webb writes, such force is used when inmates are only
offering “passive” or “static” resistance to jail deputies, like
refusing to be fingerprinted or to sign booking forms. But the use of
such force should only be used when inmates pose an “immediate threat”
to jail deputies, under Oregon training guidelines. The use of pepper
spray or so-called pressure points would be “more reasonable,” he
says.

Webb goes on to cite 28 examples of excessive force by corrections
deputies, drawn from a review of their own reports, between 2003 and
2006. Examples of the force described include an inmate being punched
in the face while deputies restrained her on the floor, after she
refused to sign a property receipt for her ring, which had been cut
off. There are several other examples of inmates being punched and
struck in the face while being restrained by other deputies, and of
having excessive force used against them after offering only passive or
static resistance.

Jail conditions are reviewed once a year by a special corrections
grand jury convened by District Attorney Mike Schrunk’s office.

“We take complaints by inmates about that sort of behavior very
seriously,” says Schrunk.

Schrunk’s colleague, Deputy District Attorney Chuck French, convenes
the grand jury every year, and says there were “significant issues”
with use of force at the jail in 2000 and 2001, but that since the
establishment of the open booking area, where Evans’ beating took
place, there has been a reduction in the number of use-of-force
incidents.

“I don’t perceive there’s a huge amount of use-of-force problems in
the jail now,” he says, agreeing at the Mercury‘s request to
review Webb’s report, nonetheless. He had no further comment on it by
press time.

Meanwhile, Webb writes that one possible cause of the pattern he has
observed is a “deliberate indifference to the problem” by “command and
supervisory staff.”

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office has been through tumultuous
times since the resignation of former Sheriff Bernie Giusto in July
2008, in the midst of a state ethics probe. Giusto’s replacement, Bob
Skipper, twice failed to pass statewide certification tests and retired
in September, to be replaced by interim sheriff Dan Staton, who
declined comment for this story. Staton’s replacement will be appointed
after an election next year.