American Sheriff | Fault Lines

[Music] Thomas Hodgson has been the sheriff of Bristol County Massachusetts for over 20 years he's responsible for the County Jail's overseeing more than 1,200 inmates we're gonna take you down to show you the classroom area yes we have people who attend different classes here when I first came here they had TVs in the cells the inmates could smoke basically would get almost as much food as they wanted and I believe that that that was the formula of failure I believe that taking the TVs away taking away the weights which they had giving them sound nutritional meals but not as much as you want and making sure they're focused on the opportunity to go to programs was the way to go sheriff Hodgson may look like any other law enforcement officer but sheriff's are politicians elected by voters with the office comes considerable power which includes how they run their jails jail should never be a Country Club and anyone who spent time in our facilities will tell you they are the furthest thing from a country club and we know our approach is working you can be a hundred miles or even 50 miles apart between two different jails and your experience will completely differend be completely based on who is the sheriff in that county there are over 3,000 sheriffs across the country and there's a wide spectrum in how they do their job Hodgson's tough on crime approach may play well in elections but it raises concerns by critics who are worried about the living conditions for inmates sheriff Hodgson has done many things to humiliate prisoners and to deprive them of basic comforts putting them in chain gangs out on the street cramming them into small cells having them sleep on the floor charging five dollars a day for the privilege of staying in his facility many sheriff's don't have term limits and once they're elected there are very few checks on their power in most cases no one can fire them in this episode of fault lines we look at what can happen when the power of a sheriff goes unchecked they have this huge amount of autonomy huge amount of Independence huge amount of authority they make decisions that really dramatically affect people's lives including life-and-death questions that always breeds problems when you have a lot of authority and not a lot of accountability [Music] Thomas Hodgson is the longest-serving sheriff in Massachusetts but in recent years he's made news for the high suicide rate in the shells you behavior units where there's more control over the inmates we also sometimes will conduct what we call eyeball watches here you'll have an officer sitting watching that person if they feel that there's a potential risk for somebody that it doesn't mean necessarily they're going to commit suicide but they may have suicidal ideations when we're told that we will and working with mental health put them on a watch where an officer just watches in the whole time so this officer is assigned to sit in this chair and just monitor the person that's inside that cell for their own safety mental health watch is so punitive at Bristol County it's worse than solitary confinement you're put in a cell with a what's called a fergie or suicide smock and no clothing you're watched constantly by a corrections officer who's peering at you through window that's it while you're in that cell 24/7 that kind of response to suicidal feelings is what stops people from reporting it to begin with Bonnie to Nerello is a lawyer with prisoner legal services in Boston her organization is suing sheriff Hutchison for housing mentally ill inmates in solitary confinement when you have serious mental illness you should not be in solitary confinement for more than a brief period of time and what we say in our lawsuit is they don't have the procedures in place to make sure that doesn't happen the suit also alleges that prisoners in Bristol County jails are not getting adequate mental health treatment we met a group of former inmates to ask them about their time in Bristol County Jail some of them are still in the criminal justice system and don't want to show their faces for fear of retribution you don't mind me asking how many guys here actually attempted suicide while that were in that Jail Wow how many guys had thought about suicide while they were in that Jail everyone how many how many of you guys were on meds when you went in there everyone was on meds when you went in there when you went in there were you able to stay on your meds did they get the meds you need it no no no no nothing no no if you feel yourself slipping emotionally or mentally and you need mental health help what's the process what do you do to get it you pray you pray put your hands together you have to fill out a sick coughs they sponsor I think they have one or two or three days to get back you but sometimes I used to go weeks and weeks and I have to keep on in putting it in like one every day every day until they see me until I was just about ready to hang it up Joe conforte a was in jail in Bristol County in 2013 he suffers from bipolar disorder he now volunteers in a soup kitchen in jail and severely depressed Joakim says he reached out for help well I wrote them a letter I wrote done not to Health Department a letter that I had been feeling really really suicidal and that I was gonna go through with it well yeah three days later I didn't hear nothing back from them and then on that night I tried to commit suicide again they told me that they came and took me down they told me that they used those electric things to shock you back to life and then the Mental Health Department finally realized wow this guy is serious he's really trying to commit suicide well at least eight people have committed suicide in Bristol County Jail's since 2015 twice as many as other jails in Massachusetts and three times the national average we spoke to a woman whose partner of 24 years killed himself while in Bristol County Jail she didn't want us to show her face on camera so this was actually the photo that we used at the service because it was one of my favorite Mike just because his eyes look so green Michael Ray was an inmate Bristol County awaiting trial in 2015 he suffered from bipolar disorder and had substance abuse issues I'm not gonna lie I mean I have boxes and boxes of letters so I just grabbed a few he wrote to his partner about conditions in the jail telling her that his request for help were ignored he said you have to tell people this isn't right and that's just one I mean he says it and in in this one he tells me this is dated October 19 2015 and he said I think I'm losing my mind and don't know what to do anymore no one asks about me or Ernest as my slips for help I'm just talking this is my only option of some kind of therapy is writing you I don't want to die I'm sorry I don't want to die but I feel like I'm dying from the inside out already I love you guys so much and don't want to leave you this was again about the mental health he's seen no one and has put in three more slips since then and this was dated December 4th so it had been almost two months since he had quite a nut initial clip it literally sounds like four months he's requesting mental health support he's not getting it correct the one thing he says and all of his letter says that he wanted help and it never came on Saturday June 10th 2017 Michael hanged himself in his cell Michael is ultimately responsible for Michael's actions I would never say that Tommy Hodgson is the one what I would say is I don't believe that that facility is ever gonna change their practices as long as their leader is mr. Hudson because I think that he really thinks that he does a great job and that to me is so frightening and so sad sheriff Hodgson said that no cases of suicide or attempted suicide were related to a lack of medical or mental health treatment after the death of Michael Rea sheriff Hodgson ordered an internal investigation into the suicides of seven inmates between 2015 and 2017 the report found that all medical mental health and security standards were met I don't think that an internal review is a substitute for oversight there's no watchdog that's saying let's look at these practices and the counties and let's say it's a real vacuum and as self reporting can't substitute for that you seem like a results-oriented guy at the end of the day who should be held accountable for a suicide rate that that that's that high and that different than other jails in this day and across the nation if you could identify something that would say that our system is failed that that in fact is the cause or that we just don't have the level of interest in taking care of the mental health cases or whatever it is look I'm responsible for everything that happens here on the sheriff so I am ultimately responsible for everything if you can't identify what it is at what point do you got to step aside because you have the duty of care and if that duty of care isn't being taken care of and you don't get why who gets to step in and say we just need a new team here well the ultimately the citizens do I think it's a problem when law enforcement policies and incarceration are governed only by the popular opinion prisoners are protected by the Constitution from the any kind of popular impulse to unfairly punished I have never seen clear evidence that a sheriff faced serious electoral repercussions for the treatment of inmates in their jails you know sheriff Singh hold an incredible amount of power and are allowed to run the jails in the ways that they see fit and we see a lot of abuses and then we don't necessarily see those abuses show up in the next campaign cycle [Music] in large parts of America sheriff's are the only form of law enforcement and do everything from running to jails to patrolling the streets but they also have a dark history here in the south sheriff's played a violent role in the Jim Crow era and in suppressing civil rights activists in the 1960s to this day sheriff's are still a remarkably homogeneous group they are 95% male and 99% white in 2008 the parish of Iberia in southern Louisiana elected a new sheriff he was a retired state trooper named Louis Akal Saturday vote Louis Akal Kevin Broussard and Whitney Lee grew up here well you see a track and a lot of blacks is Weston because no business is coming here when you get like Louis Street that's when the whites out of town starts sheriff Akal campaigned on a platform of reform but soon after his election he stripped away any internal oversight within the department during his tenure ten of his deputies would plead guilty to federal crimes in 2010 echo established a special unit to deal with what he saw his problem areas it was called the impact team impact was designed for the Western impact was designed to terrorize the neighborhood when impacted street it was best to get out the street Tuesdays and Thursdays was late with impact hit the street everybody knew Jim if I hit the street you go in because if your own a boss if they gonna call you're gonna be stopping the search it was known that there were Tuesdays and Thursdays how they coming they coming sheriff's deputies would later testify to routinely beating up in making false arrest in the West End but the abuses of power didn't stop there as Whitney Lee found out when he was awaiting trial in Iberia Parish jail in 2014 it started out simple enough they'd come in and they were gonna do some searches and strip searches kind of a shakedown type thing Kleber justice Whitney Lee's lawyer and has at least a dozen pending lawsuits against sheriff Akal Britney has had some breathing problems losing medical they pull him out of medical to kind of be part of this shakedown so I tell the Water Co see what I got to get my breathing sound you get on the yard that's the way you feel like yeah okay psycho was on the yard but then the officers started commanding them to get on their knees I don't want to be gross and put your ass in the air for your girlfriend put your face down like you're praying for Allah and you know just abuse general abuse but Whitney's problem was when he was down in these positions he literally was having trouble breathing everybody got on I told him I stood up I feel a shock I can't get out of like that nice I can't breathe so didn't have my breathing treat myself what else I showed him I am a boss he said you will you're gonna get out so I told him I said now I'm not getting that so he grabbed my shirt takata's in this sticky hit me like by six seven times on my leg you know they became more and more frustrated as Whitney did just crumble and cry and beg for mercy and the more Whitney not fighting back not resisting but simply standing there calm which is just quite frankly remarkable as they are beating him it infuriated them so the point they got so frustrated they backed up with a shotgun and shot a big beanbag bag round at him couldn't be 10 feet away the pain had just be enormous Whitney Lee sued Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office over the incident his case has recently been settled I've been through a lot of things you know and it kind of hurt me because I ain't shot it but I ain't never been shot it took me to go to jail and get shot as the abuses by the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office started to come out the FBI in the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice started investigating so essentially what happened is you've had everything from false arrest severe beatings in the jail two officers line under oath four convictions to them letting dogs loose on prisoners and beating prisoners I mean it's almost every crime that you can think of you know lying about evidence planting evidence literally beating people who are enemies of Akal after the Department of Justice investigated sheriff Akal was charged with ordering the beating of inmates in the jail and conspiring to cover it up his child took place in the fall of 2016 it was moved to another town three hours away curtis Ozen was one of the inmates in the jail that day in 2011 he was awaiting trial on a misdemeanor charge now he tells us he can no longer live with any sense of peace sketching is for door you know I'm afraid I can stop it when dinner could be what his motive is you know I can't trust that man I fear that he would kill me shoot me beat me do something it happened to me two times already it's not gonna happen a third what do you mean it happened to two times and Iberia Parish I was beating in a chapel and a room like this in the jail in the jail beaten down man like a doll in handcuffs [Music] this is security camera footage from the jail's recreation yard that day the guards were doing a shakedown taking inmates out of their cells and searching for contraband Curtis says someone near him insulted the guards the deputies thought the comment came from him Lewis echo walks in the door hey mr. Apple this is business detain him for me slapping on ground Wow I make this office on my back aqua comes put the dog in my face let the dog loose on him that's Curtis at sheriff hackles feet he thought I see a comment see not he knew he thought gets in the chapel and cuffed me again hey cousin again some ties finish I'll come in he comes in it comes in the room Curtis you don't you get these man for what what's up man get on your feet all right man all right you got that I doing that bro you guys but wrong program I'm I'm Eggman come on man why are you doing that bro hey damn no leave it on the ground I leave them alone like this man all right man you're doing it for nothing man I didn't do it is it that bad so you're not going to tell me I don't know I don't know boom key with the baton right here the MIT man with a piece of iron like this and my neck pop I'm like bad come on please broke in this one you want to work [Music] huh man you did that for nothing man I didn't say that bro well tell me we would have hated cops to beat me up in the chair I'm posed to be protected I'm in here on the mr. meanors the lowest crime a president could commit man word got to Curtis mother Dorothy Oz in that had been beaten in jail she says it took her two days to finally get the warden on the phone Tuesday morning I'll call back and then I only spoke to him and he told me uh mrs. an I don't know who given you this information but nothing happened to Curtis Curtis is fine I said but I want to come over there I want to see him for myself well no you can't come over here because it's against policy and mr. Neher and you know yeah we can't let you see him I said well it looked like I might have to go a little bit further than you about an hour maybe I wouldn't have later he called me back he said mrs. an we're gonna take him to the hospital which means take him to the hospital I see is it that bad he said well he got a few scrapes this and that but we're gonna take him to the hospital just to have him checked out [Music] it was two days before Curtis was taken to the hospital I had a fracture my my broken bone broke fracture real fractured my kneecap from a baton stick why they take you to the chapel because it's isolated soundproof sounds that no key no cameras no cameras no nothing no sound whoo nothing it is duck off in the chair so he could take you in there and from there to the hiding spot the dungeon they had is so planned I was so good man and it was doing it was doing on the rally but it was doing and the offices in I hear your parent would tell you that a cop won't tell you I'm a beach or a boy my whip you're a cop if I have an intercept incident or anything going on in my friend my house would refuse to call the policeman refused a co told them to do it Apple directed us to do it this way no other way this way and I was alone and he's still a sheriff of Iberia parents I don't understand how certain are you that Akal ordered to beat it I heard him tell them to deal with me accordingly but was the Carly during uncle's trial former deputy sheriff Ben LaSalle testified verifying the details of curtis's story he also said that Akal ordered the beatings sheriff Akal was tried before a mostly white jury he was acquitted of all charges after the trial he blamed his deputies one of the things that this case did was help eliminate drugs from the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office who went beyond the law and beat on innocent people who planted drugs on innocent people and stole from drug dealers to go eat that is totally opposite of what I am and what I've been he declined our interview requests with 10 of ackles deputies behind bars for their crimes the city of New Iberia has voted to replace the Sheriff's Department with a new police force Luis Akal continues on as sheriff of the parish and is still in charge of the jail while we were filming in southern Louisiana five more sheriff's deputies from nearby towns were arrested for beating prisoners it's not shocking to anyone there's no ripple effect there's no wave there's no outrage I mean think about it you're down here for just a number of days and two different departments within 60 miles of here five deputies arrested for abusing prisoners right I mean I would take in another part of the country and it may be a bigger media market or whatever I'd be I'd made the news don't get me wrong but I don't I don't know for people that slowed down for it even years after the assault and the Jill Curtis was in is still struggling to deal with the trauma I don't live like that I'm gonna drive my dog to the ball I'm gonna drive it to the movies you know have a baby man a little baby girl you know I don't want to go to it I don't want to know her dad is everything constant fear I can put these off I don't know I want her to know if she isn't in trouble that you can call the authority hey I'm going to live like that now black mica if me up real real bad man you

Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 194,681

Keywords: us prison, inmates mental health, us inmates, abuse, marshall project, fault lines, aljazeera, aljazeera english, al jazeera english, faultlines, sheriff, us politics, us law enforcement, massachusetts, power abuse, us mental health, aljazeera live, new iberia, new iberia louisiana, josh rushing, al jazeera, bristol county, prisoner abuse, us prisoner, abuse of power, us law, prisoner neglect, donald trump

Id: GV5WMCmwHqc

Length: 26min 0sec (1560 seconds)

Published: Wed May 09 2018