By Kurt Erickson
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
JEFFERSON CITY — The December death of a Missouri prison inmate has renewed calls for the creation of an independent monitor of the Missouri Department of Corrections.
Rep. Tony Lovasco, a St. Charles County Republican, said he plans to reintroduce legislation next year that would establish an oversight office designed to monitor and assess conditions within the state’s fleet of 20 prisons.
“All levels of Missouri government must be transparent and accountable to taxpayers, including prisons,” Lovasco said in a statement. “I’m encouraged by the increased movement within the Republican Party to recognize that these issues impact families and others well beyond those who are incarcerated, and I plan on re-introducing legislation addressing them in the next session.”
Lovasco’s plans to press for the creation of an ombudsman’s office came after four former Missouri prison guards pleaded not guilty Monday to murder in the death of Othel Moore, 38, who was pepper-sprayed and left in a position that caused suffocation on Dec. 8.
A fifth officer has pleaded not guilty to accessory to involuntary manslaughter.
In addition to criminal charges filed against the workers at the Jefferson City Correctional Center, Moore’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the defendants, the department and former Corrections Director Anne Precythe, who retired in December after six years at the helm of the agency.
Also included in the lawsuit is the former warden of the prison, Doris Falkenrath, who was terminated in June before Cole County prosecutors charged the rank-and-file officers.
Moore grew up in St. Louis and was serving a 30-year sentence for second-degree domestic assault, first-degree robbery and other charges.
The federal lawsuit said the incident involving Moore “is part of a broader, entrenched pattern of behavior by” special response units within the prisons.
“Under MODOC’s directive, a systematic practice of fear-mongering, infliction of pain, and intimidation tactics has been used against inmates, defining a culture of cruelty which is explicitly forbidden by the Eighth Amendment as cruel and unusual punishment,” the lawsuit notes.
The probable cause statement in the criminal case says Moore was searched and stripped down to his boxer shorts inside his cell during a prison contraband sweep. Moore showed no aggression during the process and was complying with orders, investigators wrote.
Moore was handcuffed outside his cell when he was pepper-sprayed, then put in a spit hood, leg wrap and restraint chair. Guards told investigators that Moore was not following orders.
Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Locke Thompson said multiple people heard Moore saying he couldn’t breathe. Moore was taken to a hospital wing and was pronounced dead. His death was listed as a homicide by the medical examiner.
The federal lawsuit filed by Moore’s family said, “Defendants were aware of and deliberately indifferent to the risks posed by not properly training and supervising their officers, which led to a pattern of behavior that was likely to result in the infringement of constitutional rights.”
Under the legislation filed by Lovasco this year, the ombudsman’s office would have access to all prison facilities, including all areas used by inmates during normal working and visiting hours.
“This authority includes the opportunity to conduct an interview with any inmate, department employee or contractor, or other person,” the legislation notes. “In the case of communications with inmates, these communications shall not be monitored by, recorded, or conducted in the presence of department employees or contractors.”
Sen. Angela Mosley, D- Florissant, introduced similar legislation. Neither advanced to the committee hearing stage.
The proposal has the backing of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a prison reform organization.
“People shouldn’t die of homicide while in state custody. Period. Several states have implemented independent prison oversight, and Missouri desperately needs it next,” said Maria Goellner, director of state policy for FAMM.
Lovasco faces St. Paul marriage counselor Deanna Self in the Aug. 6 Republican primary. Mosley is being challenged for the Democratic nomination by Rep. Chantelle Nickson-Clark of Florissant.
Othel Moore Jr ., 38, died on Dec. 8 in the Jefferson City Correctional Center.
The family said the inmate should have been monitored after he was placed in the cell. Instead, they say he was struggling to breathe for several hours.
Othel Moore, who died Dec. 8, grew up in St. Louis and had a daughter, his family said.
The Missouri Department of Corrections is awaiting the outcome of an investigation of the death.
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