Jail employees canned

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Phil Stake
Staff writer

GALLUP — Two county employees have been dismissed, and Gallup and McKinley County are facing a lawsuit following an excessive force accusation at Gallup McKinley Adult Detention Center.

The incident that prompted the accusation started at around 3:30 a.m. on Sept. 23 while Jason Sais, locally notorious for prior drug convictions, was incarcerated at the facility. Sais, who currently resides in Magdelena, N.M., was in town for a parole violation hearing and was being held in H-pod, where individual cells are easily unlocked by inmates, according to a letter sent to County Attorney Doug Decker by GMADC Director Donna Goodrich.

Goodrich reviewed video logs of the event after placing Lt. Michael Guillen and Sgt. Mark Maldonado on mandatory leave. Upon completion, Goodrich fired Guillen and Maldonado, suspended another correction officer and gave written warnings to at least six correction officers for failing to report the incident. Three of those officers received additional warnings for “following an unlawful order,” according to the letter.

During the early hours of Sept. 23, a frequent offender named Eric Olguin had been detained and was drunk. Guillen, Maldonado and three other officers escorted Olguin to cell 4 inside H-pod.

“Eric was intoxicated and disorderly, apparently making threats to everyone, including the Gallup Police officers who arrested him,” the letter reads. “... Olguin was still being loud and insulting to all of the other offenders in the pod, telling them he was having sex with their girlfriends and daughters while they were locked up ... Olguin is a frequent guest here at the Detention Center, and is known by most of the officers ... [He] is always housed alone because people want to hurt him.”

After locking Olguin inside H-pod, where inmates are able to roam, Maldonado and Guillen led four officers to the hallway adjacent to the pod. They can be seen on video logs standing around, occasionally glancing through the open food port, leading some jail employees to believe it was a set-up to place the antagonistic and drunk Olguin near Sais inside H-pod.

At 3:40 a.m., Sgt. Maldonado can be seen on video logs placing a PepperBall gun through the open food port and firing several rounds at Jason Sais, who is out of his own cell and standing outside cell 4, involved in an altercation with Olguin. A PepperBall gun is commonly used in correctional facilities. It fires breakable rounds similar to paintballs, which instead of paint are filled with a Mace-like substance called PAVA, a pepper-based solution that causes “incapacitating coughing and a burning sensation in the eyes, nose, throat and skin,” according to the PepperBall Web site. “PepperBall projectiles will leave welts or bruises on unprotected skin,” the Web site says.
In a matter of seconds, all the officers stormed into H-pod. Maldonado continued firing at Sais, who ran toward his own cell. Sais received nine PepperBall rounds, most of them to his back and neck, according to his attorney, William Stripp. Two officers chased Sais to his cell. One of the officers, who was later suspended, followed Sais inside his cell and shut the door. He sprayed PAVA directly into Sais’ eyes, according to the letter.

Goodrich points out that several minutes passed before Sais was taken to decontamination, and even though at least 15 PAVA shots had been released, no other inmates were taken to decontamination. Olguin was eventually placed in segregation.

When interviewed by Goodrich, Sais said Sgt. Maldonado told him he didn’t have to go to segregation as long as he said nothing about being shot.

Guillen and Maldonado failed to follow protocol — activation of the “Incident Management System,” according to Goodrich. Following IMS procedures would have required several steps, including verbal instructions and the use of audio/video equipment to record activity, none of which was done. Furthermore, Goodrich said Sais’ back injuries were never recorded, “as is standard practice when an inmate receives an injury while incarcerated here.” Guillen and Maldonado also failed to give medical attention to Sais, who suffered one PepperBall shot to the base of his skull.

“They are trained that the rounds should not be fired directly at an individual unless he is a direct threat to the officers or other inmates, and if used, should not be shot at the head or spinal area, because of the risk of permanent injury,” Goodrich said.

On Oct.1, Guillen and Maldonado were fired. During a brief phone call with the Independent, Guillen indicated that both officers feel they were wrongfully terminated and were considering filing a suit against the county. However Guillen failed to return subsequent phone calls.

Stripp said he intends to notify the county of a Civil Rights Violation suit next week.

“It would appear that the lawsuit may be filed against the city and the county and the officers involved, but I need to look into that some more,” Stripp said Thursday afternoon.
Because the board of directors charged with oversight of the jail includes both county and city officials, both may be held liable.

This will be the second Civil Rights Violation suit filed by Sais against McKinley County. The first was settled in February of 2007, following a 2003 incident in which Sais broke his finger while playing basketball during a previous stint at GMADC, and failed to receive medical treatment.

The investigation into the events of Sept. 23 was passed to McKinley County Sheriff’s Office then again this week to New Mexico State Police, at the request of District Attorney Karl Gillson. However McKinley County Sherrif’s Office Internal Affairs is continuing an internal, parallel investigation as regards the termination of Guillen and Maldonado.