By Scott Sandlin
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, NM — Two jail beatings in a dispute over a cup. An inmate’s head stomped on a dozen times. Seven criminal defendants.
One long-running review of jail policies that had already cost $107,000 as of October.
Now, there’s another number: One civil rights suit against Bernalillo County and Correctional Medical Services, a jail contractor.
The conservator for a jail inmate so brutally attacked that he required life support and now uses a wheelchair has filed a lawsuit seeking money damages from the county and its contractor on behalf of Avery T. Hadley. Hadley’s beatings on two separate occasions led to an ongoing, independent review of jail operations, criminal prosecutions involving inmates and guards and an outcry from the African-American community.
A lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court accuses county officials of civil rights violations, including failure to provide a safe environment for prisoners and failure to train and supervise corrections officers, refusal to treat, and conspiracy.
Hadley, 49, was first beaten in November 2008 and spent weeks in the infirmary, and in March 2009 was again beaten by inmates, this time so severely that he was hospitalized and in a coma for weeks and sustained permanent injuries, the complaint states. In both cases, the lawsuit alleges jail guards “popped the doors” and released inmates to allow the assaults on Hadley.
The lawsuit, filed by Albuquerque attorney Joshua Simms for Hadley’s conservator Sandra Foster, claims Hadley’s brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews have been deprived of a meaningful relationship, and that Hadley was deprived of a relationship with his father, Carl, before his death, and with Avery’s identical twin brother.
Five groups of defendants are identified: county commissioners; County Manager Thaddeus Lucero and former Deputy County Manager John Dantis, who oversaw public safety; former Metropolitan Detention Center Director Ron Torres and other jail officers; CMS; and Jesus Cordova, Keola Kaula and other unnamed inmates involved with the beatings.
In separate answers filed this month, Correctional Medical Services Inc. and the county defendants deny any wrongdoing. CMS says its employees “acted in good faith and in a reasonable manner given the information and circumstances existing at the time.”
County defendants and their employees say their actions were objectively reasonable, and that they’re entitled to qualified immunity from suit. Hadley’s injuries were caused by another party, and the county isn’t liable, the county says. Among other defenses, it also says Hadley failed to file a tort claim notice and to file within the two-year statute of limitations. The county, meanwhile, launched a review by a team of outside experts headed by a lawyer and national prisoner rights expert who have made multiple visits to the huge West Side jail. Although verbal updates have been given to commissioners, no final report has been issued. The county attorney has told the Journal that much of what has been done under the contract is subject to attorneyclient privilege.
The criminal cases are mostly wrapped up.
Jail inmates Cordova and Kaula were charged with attempted murder and conspiracy in the 2009 attack on Hadley. Kaula pleaded guilty to conspiracy and being a repeat offender and will be sentenced after his return from Texas, where he faced other criminal charges. Cordova’s case is pending while his competency is being evaluated.
Correctional officer Roslyn Juanico, who claimed she was being made into a scapegoat for the jail’s many shortcomings, was given a year of unsupervised probation and a conditional discharge. She pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor accusing her of standing by while the inmates beat up Hadley in March 2009.
In the earlier Hadley beating, correctional officer Juan Ramirez, 29, and inmates Robert Grado, 21, Luis Garcia, 22, and George Milanez, 25, were all charged with false imprisonment, conspiracy to commit false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery causing great bodily harm. Ramirez also was charged with criminal solicitation and bribery of a witness, and the inmates were charged with aggravated battery.
The criminal case is pending against Ramirez.
Milanez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated battery and was sentenced to a year and a half in prison, to be served concurrent with an earlier case. Grado pleaded no contest to aggravated battery and was sentenced to 364 days in custody, court records show.
Garcia also was sentenced to 364 days in custody based on his guilty plea.
Copyright 2010 Albuquerque Journal