By Matt Bruce
The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.
BATON ROUGE, La. — Shawn Briscoe had a rude awakening the morning of Feb. 3, 2018, when he was stabbed and burned during an early morning attack at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center.
In a civil lawsuit filed against officials from the St. Gabriel prison, Briscoe alleged inmates paid off a correctional officer to stand by and let the attack go down.
According to Briscoe’s 2019 complaint, Sgt. Dallas Stewart shouted, “They’re getting that b*----, Briscoe,” as she watched the attack unfold from a control room feet from the inmate dorm. She did nothing to stop the assault and refused to call for medical help afterward, telling Briscoe to “take your f*—*ing licks.”
A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that was a constitutional violation of state and federal laws and awarded Briscoe $10,000 in damages.
“Freedom from violence is a human right, but it is one rarely afforded to people who are incarcerated,” David Lanser, one of the plaintiff’s attorneys, said in a news release. “It is a relief to see a rare instance of accountability, as prison officials are routinely let off the hook for failing the people who rely on them for safety and care.”
U.S. Chief District Judge Shelly Dick presided over a civil bench trial July 10 and listened to testimony from several witnesses for both Stewart and Briscoe, according to court records. Briscoe testified that Stewart labeled him as an informant shortly before he was assaulted. According to court filings, the guard recognized Briscoe when he was transferred from segregated housing the night before the attack and said, “they letting the rats back into the dorm, huh”?
Dick determined the correctional officer was negligent, committed Eighth Amendment constitutional violations and failed to protect Briscoe from cruel and unusual punishment, a guarantee of the Louisiana Constitution.
The plaintiff’s attorneys indicated the judge said she found Briscoe’s testimony credible and she was persuaded by security footage that showed the Feb. 3, 2018, incident.
In the video, Stewart and an unidentified corrections officer look on from behind a tier window as a prisoner rushes Briscoe and chases him through the Fox 7 inmate dorm as other detainees sleep.
According to Jefferson Parish court records, Briscoe, now 39, was a murder suspect at the time, awaiting trial for allegedly shooting a Kenner maintenance man dead during an August 2016 robbery. He was later convicted of the crime and sentenced to 15 years after pleading guilty to manslaughter and other charges in the middle of his trial last year, court records show.
Briscoe was sitting on his bunk around 5:30 a.m. when another inmate identified as Darryl Harris tossed a liquid chemical on his face, then stabbed him repeatedly in the neck, arms, shoulder and feet. The lawsuit indicated Harris had just walked from the dorm’s microwave where he warmed up the chemical.
He yelled, “This is for the money I got paid. This is for the twenty-five hundred,” as he poured the scalding liquid over Briscoe’s head, the plaintiff’s attorneys alleged. Harris then pulled out his weapon and said, “this is for the other twenty-five” as he began stabbing Briscoe, who had to fight off the attacker himself.
Afterward, Briscoe had to wait for a shift change before guards called paramedics, and it was three hours before he was taken to a hospital. He ultimately had to go to the Baton Rouge Burn Unit to be treated, attorneys said.
Harris eventually was charged criminally for the attack. Briscoe’s left eye was scarred from the chemical burns, and he still suffers from “significant loss of vision,” his complaint indicated.
James LeBlanc, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, and Elayn Hunt warden Thomas Hooper originally were named as defendants when Briscoe filed his lawsuit in January 2019.
They were dismissed from the case in June 2019 after Dick determined there was no subject-matter jurisdiction to hold them liable.
In pretrial motions, Stewart argued she wasn’t liable for Briscoe’s injuries, arguing they “were caused by factors outside of (her) control.”
In her defense, she invoked qualified immunity as an officer. She also sought to use the 11th Amendment, which shields Louisiana government entities from being sued federally unless the state waives its sovereign immunity. She was ultimately fired after prison officials investigated the attack, Briscoe’s attorneys noted.
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