The basis for the investigation is the July 2006 pepper-balling of an inmate who - after her arrest on a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct - was shot a half-dozen times with a pepperball gun while detained in a maximum-security holding cell.
Detention officers, failing to recognize her mental illness, then strapped the woman into a restraint chair for 44 minutes before decontaminating her.
Believing jailers' treatment of the 24-year-old Missoula woman violated, among other statutes, Montana's Diversion Law, which is designed to prevent people with mental illness from being jailed on minor charges, the advocacy group began investigating the incident.
The 25-page report refers to the never-publicly named inmate as “Adele,” and includes among her many disabilities psychotic disorder, mild retardation, fetal alcohol syndrome and post-traumatic stress. The report goes on to describe a “cascade of events which violated Adele's rights under Montana's Constitution, statutes, and multiple jail policies and procedures.”
Adele was arrested late on July 1, 2006, for a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct, which carries a bail amount of $100. She was initially arrested at St. Patrick Hospital after falling into a dispute with emergency room personnel who refused to treat her, the report states.
According to the report's findings, jail staff failed to screen Adele for mental illness when she arrived; violated its own policies, including one defining the circumstances in which nonlethal weapons such as a pepperball gun may be used; committed assault on an inmate; and violated the Montana Elder and Persons with Developmental Disabilities Abuse Prevention Act, which requires law enforcement and other public officials to report instances of abuse to one of several government agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services.
Instead, officials remained mum about the incident until veteran jailer Mike Burch, who thought the use of force was excessive, leaked a report detailing the incident to the Missoulian. Burch was threatened with prosecution and ultimately fired for disclosing “confidential criminal justice information,” a decision made by Missoula County Sheriff Mike McMeekin after an FBI report concluded that the inmate's civil rights had not been violated.
In May 2007, Burch died of a heart attack.
Although the group intended to release its findings and recommendations in March 2007, the investigation was “hindered and slowed,” due in part to resistance from McMeekin and other jail officials, the report states.
“The sheriff's office consistently delayed or refused to provide information for over 18 months to the extent that at the time of this report essential evidence including video tapes of Adele's arrival at the jail, audio tapes confirming when she was actually taken to the shower and other essential documentary evidence, including the FBI investigative report, had never been provided,” the report states.
While the document is predominantly remonstrative of the jail staff's response to the situation, it also highlights positive steps McMeekin has taken to improve jail policies, such as sending officers to Crisis Intervention Training to teach them how to work with people with mental lillness.
McMeekin, who also is named in a federal civil suit in the matter, declined to comment on the report's finer points, but issued a statement approved by counsel in the lawsuit.
“The matter is in litigation, in federal court, and so I can't comment specifically. The matter has been reviewed, and we're working on additional training, and additional steps that can possibly be taken to better deal with this type of situation,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Also, it's subject to the availability of appropriate medical, psychological, and psychiatric professionals on a 24/7 basis. The county is also working toward resolution of the litigation.”
Alexandra Volkerts, an attorney for Disability Rights Montana, said the report's findings are important because jails and emergency rooms have become “default holding systems” for people with mental health issues due to a dearth of local services.
“People with serious mental illness do not belong in jails, particularly those people who have been picked up on minor crimes,” Volkerts said. “Those resources are inefficient, inappropriate and, sometimes, such as in this situation, inhumane. We had a detention officer who made some very bad choices, and those choices resulted in the abuse of a mentally ill woman.”
Volkerts called the jail administration's response to the incident “disturbing,” and criticized the decision to fire Burch.
“Their investigation exonerated the officer who was abusive and punished the officer who made the correct moral choice,” she said.
In the report, the group identifies five areas where the jail can improve its ability to “identify, divert and humanely treat people with mental illness and developmental disabilities who are brought to the jail as detainees.”
The jail's training program that teaches officers to recognize and treat detainees with mental illnesses also appears inadequate, according to the DRM report, which lists numerous recommendations on how jail staff can improve procedures for screening inmates with mental illness.
According to the leaked incident report, written by Detention Officer Jason Sorini, the woman became combative when she was booked into the jail, although Volkerts said video of the woman depicts her initial demeanor as calm.
Adele also threatened to harm herself, the jailer's report states, so a team of officers strapped her in a restraint chair until she agreed to calm down and cooperate. She was then placed in a maximum-security holding cell, where she fell asleep.
Several hours later, the woman began screaming for her father and climbed onto a desk inside the cell. In his report, Sorini, head of the jail's Disturbance Response Team, wrote that the woman threatened to “jump onto the floor head first and kill herself.”
In a DVD recording of the incident obtained by the Missoulian last year, the woman, after being ordered to turn around and kneel, steps down from the desk and stands on the floor beside the bunk, screaming the entire time. Sorini twice orders her to get down on the bunk, adding “or force will be used against you” the second time.
Moments later, the guard shoots her six times with the pepperball gun. He then fires three additional rounds at the wall near the woman's head, “causing a copious amount of powder to contaminate the area,” according to the incident report.
Sorini and several other detention officers then enter the cell and again strap the woman into a restraint chair. The officers move the woman to an adjacent holding cell for 44 minutes before Sorini instructs them to shower and decontaminate the woman.
A settlement conference in the federal lawsuit, which names the Missoula County Sheriff's Department, the jail, McMeekin, Sorini and jail Capt. Susan Hintz, is scheduled for Nov. 20.
Reporter Tristan Scott can be reached at 523-5264 or at tscott@missoulian.com.
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pepperballem wrote on Nov 12, 2008 11:36 AM:
" I'm all for equal rights, everyone gets treated the same the mentally ill, handicapped, whatever....as such this person should get pepperballed just like the rest of us.
These people all wanted to be treated like everyone else, until that doesn't work in their favor - then all of a sudden - they want to be treated special.
Instead of complaining she should be thankfull that we now have a society that turns a blind eye to those that are different - they aren't - we're equal. So to the handicapped - this is what you fought for, to be treated like everyone else - So take you pepperballing like a man and quite complaining. "
These people all wanted to be treated like everyone else, until that doesn't work in their favor - then all of a sudden - they want to be treated special.
Instead of complaining she should be thankfull that we now have a society that turns a blind eye to those that are different - they aren't - we're equal. So to the handicapped - this is what you fought for, to be treated like everyone else - So take you pepperballing like a man and quite complaining. "
WT wrote on Nov 12, 2008 11:53 AM:
" Missoula County Detention Staff is the finest in this state. They responded to a situation with the training and knowledge they had at the time. Its so easy for everyone else to armchair quarterback someone elses decision. I hope the public takes this into consideration when forming an opinion on the matter. "
John H. Wiegman wrote on Nov 12, 2008 2:18 PM:
" This same department is using the "Evercom Scam." Incarcerates frequently must call their mentors. Those folks are usually handicapped and/or elderly because nobody else has time for troubled people. The routine is to bill colossal amounts for the telephone calls. In one case the Evercom scammers sent huge bulls and made repeated prerecorded calls to a stroke victim who had but one hand. The calls said to call a number, a number that was said far too fast for her to write down. I got it and called back to inquire only to be smart-mouthed. Sad. Very sad. "
Dustin Hankinson wrote on Nov 12, 2008 4:48 PM:
" These comments always demonstrate how little people actually listen or understand. Um, the pepperballing was against the police department's OWN policy and was borderline illegal. They wouldn't have peppered you. They just peppered her FOR NO REASON. That's NOT equality. It's called discrimination, not like you'd apparently care given your penchant for insensitivity. The Missoula Detention Staff is filled with decent, honorable people but that DOESN'T mean they are perfect and they made massive mistakes in this case. Treating people with the dignity they deserve isn't a privilege, it's a RIGHT. It would be a good thing if detention officers weren't so heavy-handed next time they encounter someone like Adele. "
BF wrote on Nov 12, 2008 5:57 PM:
" Pepperballing, or use of pepper spray is for non-compliance to verbal commands. It is used in leau of physical force which the officers restrained themselves from. The prisoner did not comply to the commands given, therefore she was pepperballed like anyone else. Officers have a right to be protected themselves. The job is dangerous enough as it is and I think anyone who criticizes a detion officer or police officer's use of force should walk a mile in their shoes first. In this case, it sounds like the officers acted appropriately. "
Fred Garvin wrote on Nov 12, 2008 7:24 PM:
" Based on the totality of the circumstances outlined in this article, "Adele" posed a threat to herself when she told the CO's that she intended to kill herself. The CO's did what they were trained to do and for some organization to file suit in regards to an arcane law is a waste of the courts time and our money. Anything for free press and a buck... "
dingdong wrote on Nov 12, 2008 9:34 PM:
" Yea sure..they just did it, pepperbaled her for no reason, must had a little extra time on their hands between waterboarding practice...come on.
Would you 'just' pepperball someone ? No, and I wouldn't either...And I doubt police did either.
The 60s are over, when are we ever going to stop with this...."Oh like wow man the pigs are like facist man..puff puff"
I give the boys in blue alot more credit, they get a lot more training for their jobs than any one of use do for our cushy litte jobs. "
Would you 'just' pepperball someone ? No, and I wouldn't either...And I doubt police did either.
The 60s are over, when are we ever going to stop with this...."Oh like wow man the pigs are like facist man..puff puff"
I give the boys in blue alot more credit, they get a lot more training for their jobs than any one of use do for our cushy litte jobs. "
Theresa Martinosky wrote on Nov 13, 2008 11:25 AM:
" Most of these comments totally amaze and disturb me. First of all, it is clear that many are commenting without reading the entire article. It is clearly stated that the written incident report does not match the audio and video recordings of what happened. I'm not sure when it became a threat to anyone to have a person calling for their father and being scared to death. I have to wonder, given this woman's mental state whether the requests made of her were in language she could understand and respond to appropriately? That's the problem with our country today...so many like to hurt first and get the facts later. I hope for all of you who posted ignorant comments that no one you love ever has to experience the inhumane treatment that this woman experienced. "
Jason wrote on Nov 13, 2008 3:22 PM:
" Is the women still alive??? Yes!!! Well then I guess pepperball is ok. Officers have to protect themselves too. Damned if they do damned if they don't. Pepperball launchers is a great alternative to tasers. The officer did nothing wrong and I think they should purchase even more products from Pepperball.com "
justaword wrote on Nov 13, 2008 4:44 PM:
" previous quote: "so many like to hurt first and get the facts later"
That's an awful big ASSUMPTION - which is what you've accused others of...
Previous quote:
"I hope for all of you who posted ignorant comments that no one you love ever has to experience the inhumane treatment that this woman experienced."
Does this imply that you wish inhumane treatment on those you don't love ? For myself I don't wish it on anyone.
If you weren't there you don't have a clue what happened.
I very rarely beleive any of these type of 'bad cop' stories because the media just loves to play up this stuff because it gives them something to write about. Also I like to give people, police included the benefit of doubt that they did the right thing until 'proven' otherwise, not just because some news story says so. And we all know the media would never exegerate anything - yea right !
So of us (puff puff) are predisposed to beleive anything bad they hear about cops, reguardless of if they can prove it of not.
I've never had a problem with police stopping me....because I keep my mouth shout, simple as that. "
That's an awful big ASSUMPTION - which is what you've accused others of...
Previous quote:
"I hope for all of you who posted ignorant comments that no one you love ever has to experience the inhumane treatment that this woman experienced."
Does this imply that you wish inhumane treatment on those you don't love ? For myself I don't wish it on anyone.
If you weren't there you don't have a clue what happened.
I very rarely beleive any of these type of 'bad cop' stories because the media just loves to play up this stuff because it gives them something to write about. Also I like to give people, police included the benefit of doubt that they did the right thing until 'proven' otherwise, not just because some news story says so. And we all know the media would never exegerate anything - yea right !
So of us (puff puff) are predisposed to beleive anything bad they hear about cops, reguardless of if they can prove it of not.
I've never had a problem with police stopping me....because I keep my mouth shout, simple as that. "
Holla back wrote on Nov 19, 2008 7:50 AM:
" Previous quote: Blah Blah Blah... Your so sensitive. Maybe this female inmate deserved what she got. You should be lucky law enforcement has invested in less lethal weapons like pepperball. If they used a taser then it would be a different conversation. Sure there should be oversight but we have to let the cops do their jobs. "
SERT wrote on Nov 19, 2008 9:19 PM:
" I fully understand dealing with mentally ill people in a detention center and i have been trained in the Crisis Intervention Training. That being said, menatlly ill people are always being brought to jail because all other options have been exhausted, such as crisis centers and psych hospitals, if a community is lucky enough to have them. These such places cannot force a person to stay against their will. Then the public makes complaints that a person is being disorderly and this mentally ill person is once again addressed by the Police. At this point, to appease the public safety, they are forced to arrest the mentally ill person. I mean of course they are going to be disorderly, they are menatlly ill! Detention staff deal with them the best they can and without a doubt do it professionaly and with little pay and much less respect. Everyone is quick to blame these "Heartless Thugs" but in truth, it is a very high likely hood that this person would have harmed themselves or others if they had not acted as they did. Now they must face litigation and accusations that threaten their careers. Acuusations coming from the same people that probably called the cops on the menatlly ill person in the first place. Anyone that thinks they know better should spend a day at work with a Detention Officer. GOD bless all Jail staff. These same people people that blame you will also be the ones begging you for help. "
bob wrote on Nov 12, 2008 8:03 AM: