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| Ore. girl's death part of Indian prisons inquiry |
| By USA Today |
| Published: 05/31/2004 |
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A federal probe into deaths, abuse and neglect in the Native American prison system is focusing on about 20 of the system's 74 prisons, and it includes the death of a 16-year-old girl in Oregon last December, two Interior Department officials with knowledge of the inquiry say. Cindy Gilbert Sohappy, a member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, was put in a holding cell attached to the Chemawa Indian School, a boarding school in Salem, Ore., when she was found to be intoxicated the night of Dec. 6. She was found dead about three hours later from alcohol poisoning. Her death raised questions about the monitoring of cells at the facility. The FBI has been investigating the incident because it occurred on federal land. Corinna Sohappy, Cindy's aunt and legal guardian, said last Sunday that FBI agents told her a week ago that the bureau had completed its probe and had referred the matter to U.S. prosecutors. It was unclear last Sunday what the agents had recommended. The two Interior officials, who have access to details of the department's probe, say the Sohappy case is among a range of issues being investigated. The Interior Department has said the problems it is examining include inadequate supervision of inmates, facilities with no running water or toilets, and 30-year-old cell blocks in which the doors no longer can be locked. The department and its Bureau of Indian Affairs oversee tribes on 55 million acres of Indian lands. In 2002, tribal detention centers held 2,006 prisoners. Dave Anderson, Interior's assistant secretary for Indian Affairs, said two weeks ago that Interior's probe involved an examination of an undisclosed number of deaths. He declined to describe the victims or how they died. |
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