Before inmate's death, report assailed use of force at jail
BY CHARLES SAVAGE
csavage@herald.com Monday,
October 1, 2001
Eleven months before a North Broward Detention Center inmate died under circumstances that are the subject of an internal Broward Sheriff's Office homicide investigation, a federal monitor submitted a scathing report about the use and alleged abuse of force by deputies in the county jail system. In an Oct. 8, 2000, report submitted to a federal judge overseeing conditions in Broward jails, court monitor John Tiedeberg found ``serious problems violating inmate rights in the Broward County Jail System.''He cited dozens of questionable incidents in support of his argument that the BSO process for reviewing the use of force by guards is flawed, among other alleged problems.
``A system that approves, and apparently never questions or punishes, every use of force is no system at all,'' Tiedeberg wrote. He called for independent monitoring of all use-of-force incidents.
Attorneys seeking to keep federal court monitoring of Broward jails in place are examining the Sept. 16 death of mentally ill inmate John Beraglia in light of the concerns raised by the Tiedeberg report.
Three inmates told The Herald that they heard and saw deputies beat Beraglia while taking him from an infirmary cell. He had been under close supervision because it was feared he would try to commit suicide, when he apparently became unruly.
``I think the Tiedeberg report foreshadowed a continued use of excessive force,'' said inmates' class-action attorney Chris Cloney. He cautioned that what happened to Beraglia has not yet been established.
The use-of-force incident against Beraglia was not videotaped, contrary to standard BSO procedure. The Broward medical examiner is expected to declare a cause of death when a toxicology analysis is completed, now expected next week.
The hearing to decide whether the jail system will remain under federal scrutiny, however, is not set until Dec. 3.
After the Tiedeberg report was submitted, the BSO hired jail consultant Gary DeLand to review its jails. In an April 5, 2001, document, DeLand argued that concerns raised by Tiedeberg do not indicate system-wide problems with inmate treatment.
``The simplest answer about why [the court monitor] should be lifted is that the sheriff asked to have a nationally recognized expert, Gary DeLand, review our system, and he concluded that our jails meet constitutional standards,'' said BSO spokeswoman Cheryl Stopnik.
She also noted that new jails have eased crowding issues, and that the BSO has received three accreditations from state and federal commissions, which fewer than 5 percent of large jail systems have.
Tiedeberg is a former BSO officer who began monitoring his former agency's jails after he retired in the late 1980s, for U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler.
Examples of incidents he cites in his report:
Inmate Patrick Deboard was restrained on July 7, 2000, after allegedly threatening deputies. The BSO subject-control report notes no injuries. But a separate medical file said Deboard was brought into the infirmary in a wheelchair ``covered in blood'' shortly afterward, with facial trauma and other abrasions. On March 28, 2000, an incident report said a detainee who had tried to hang himself was dragged out from under his bunk and put in a restraint chair for two hours before being taken to the infirmary. Though no injuries were reported on the incident report, his medical report said he had been hurt on his side and back. On Dec. 13, a BSO committee made a series of recommendations to improve its ``system of review to identify inappropriate, disproportionate or excessive force.'' The changes included forwarding all use-of-force incidents to its Office of Professional Compliance for review and taking Polaroid photographs to document injuries or lack thereof.
In 1994, the BSO and class-action attorneys signed a consent decree that settled the 1970s-era lawsuit over crowding and other jail conditions. The decree called for ongoing court oversight. In 1996, Congress toughened the standards that must exist before a judge can interfere with the running of a prison.
Now, judicial monitoring is allowed only if conditions are found to be unconstitutional. Conditions under scrutiny will be more limited -- not whether inmates get fresh air or have a grievance issue, but more basic concerns such as use of force and medical care.
Beraglia's former attorney, Assistant Public Defender Doug Brawley, has also said an inmate told him that Beraglia had been complaining about receiving the wrong combination of anti-psychotic drugs in the days prior to his death.
Monday was the first day of a contract with a new health-care provider in the jail. Wexford Corp. replaced EMSA Correctional Care.