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| Jury awards damages to inmate in jail abuse trial |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 06/21/2004 |
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An inmate who claimed he was abused at the Hillsborough County (N.H.) jail was awarded slightly more than $20,000 in damages by a federal court jury last Monday. Jason Surprenant, 30, sued New Hampshire's largest county jail, its superintendent and several officers on grounds that his constitutional rights were violated when he was accused of taking an officer hostage and sent to solitary confinement for two months in 2002. With no videotape of the incident, the jury weighed the testimony from inmates against testimony from corrections officers and found inmates more believable. Surprenant's lawyer, Michael Sheehan, said his client was "very happy" with the verdict. In July 2002, corrections officer Cesar Rivas said a mob of 20 to 25 inmates tried to take him hostage. After ordering a lockdown, Rivas identified nine inmates as his attackers. The inmates said they were beaten during transfer to solitary confinement, denied fair disciplinary hearings and denied running water, toilet paper, soap, paper and pencils. Surprenant maintained throughout the trial that he did not attack Rivas. Witnesses testified that Surprenant was lifting weights at the time of the supposed attack, out of sight and hearing range of Rivas. Witnesses also said a lone man approached Rivas to talk, not the mob that Rivas described. Surprenant is serving time for a drug charge at the state prison in Concord. The jury ordered Rivas to pay Surprenant $5,501 in punitive and nominal damages. They ordered Terry Pendleton, the jail's former disciplinary officer to pay Surprenant $15,001. Superintendent James O'Mara was told to pay $1 for violating Surprenant's 14th Amendment rights in solitary. Excessive force claims against corrections officer Ryan LeVierge and Sgt. John LeBlanc were dismissed. |
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