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| Three prison officials fired for transporting naked inmate |
| By Mansfield News Journal |
| Published: 12/22/2004 |
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Seven Ohio prison employees have been disciplined for failing to clothe a mentally ill inmate before moving him to a psychiatric unit in Lima, authorities said. Capt. Wes Riley, Lt. Robert Turjanica and nurse Robert Conkle were fired for dereliction of duty and abuse of an inmate, according to a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Lt. Rick Leeth was demoted to officer for hampering the investigation and corrections officers Jerry Atwood, Herb Edwards and Charles Saxour must work two days without pay for their involvement. "Our mission is to provide a safe and secure atmosphere for all of the inmates that we house, and we were not pleased with the behavior of the officers involved in this incident," department spokeswoman Andrea Dean said. The department held disciplinary hearings in November and handed down its decision Tuesday. Prison officials began videotaping according to procedure when inmate Jerry Walter refused to cooperate with two "transport officers" who had arrived at his cell in the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, just south of Columbus. Walter had spent the previous four days unclothed in his cell, apparently by choice. He began to cooperate when other officers appeared at his cell. Walter left the cell Sept. 2 nude except for restraints and was placed in a van for the transport. Walter, 25, entered prison in May 2002 and is serving a sentence of 20 years to life for aggravated murder and aggravated burglary. Investigators said the employees didn't follow department guidelines requiring clothing for inmates being transferred to another facility. They also said the employees didn't mention the nudity in their initial reports. |
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