Prisoners claim abuse in lawsuit: Mifflin County Correctional Facility

The Article



LEWISTOWN — An amended federal lawsuit alleging prisoner abuse at the Mifflin County Correctional Facility was made available to The Sentinel on Wednesday.The lawsuit initially was filed in 2006 and at the time named only one prisoner as plaintiff, Dustin Zimmerman, who accused three corrections officers of abuse. Two additional plaintiffs, Gary Searer and Justin Herb, have joined the suit, which seeks certification as a class action.According to the amended complaint, Zimmerman, Searer and Herb allege they were “subjected to unlawful, cruel and inhumane treatment that caused substantial damages,” while incarcerated at the correctional facility.Under the four counts presented in the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege they were subjected to excessive force and conditions of confinement that deprived them of their rights under the Eight and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. In addition, the plaintiffs allege they were inflicted with severe emotional distress and were intentionally assaulted and battered, and as a result, sustained physical and mental injuries.Among the allegations in the 16-page lawsuit are several the plaintiffs make against either one or more of the defendants named in the complaint, including:
≤ Unlawful use of pepper spray. A prisoner claimed being forbidden to wash off the pepper spray for 15 hours;
≤ Being pummeled with batons;
≤ Being subject to electric shock by Taser;
≤ Being subject to choke hold;
≤ Being deprived of the opportunity to use a rest room;
≤ Being deprived of padding or pillow for bedding and forced to sleep on a steel bed for approximately two months;
≤ Plaintiff(s) claim being tied to a steel bed frame with plastic zip ties with the hands bound above the head, for more than 50 hours;
≤ Plaintiff(s) claim being kept in a cell without light for approximately two months;
≤ Plaintiff(s) claim being denied shower facilities for 13 days; and
≤ Plaintiff(s) claim being strapped to a bed frame and struck in the groin area.The lawsuit names several corrections officers — Craig Schaefer, Ronald Bilger, Chuck Chambers, Kathy Weaver and Barry Kearns — as well as Warden Bernie Zook as directly responsible for the alleged abuse.One of the officers named in the original lawsuit, Brian E. Taylor, was criminally charged for shocking Zimmerman with a Taser, court documents indicate.“Taylor was later prosecuted and pleaded guilty to a charge of official oppression for shocking Zimmerman. Taylor was named in the original complaint in this action, but Zimmerman voluntarily dismissed him from the case after he agreed to cooperate and provide information about illegal practices at the facility,” court documents state. Attempts to contact prison officials for comment was unsuccessful. A representative of the correctional facility said employees were not permitted to comment on the case.“I’m not going to comment on a pending legal matter,” Zook said when approached at his office Wednesday.William T. O’Neil and Michael J. Cooke, who represent the prisoners, commented extensively on the case and said Zook was named in the lawsuit because he is responsible for “policy” at the correctional facility.“As warden of the facility, he is responsible for setting policies,” Cooke said.“Our goal is to have the prison be forced by the court to change the way it runs itself,” Cooke said.O’Neil and Cooke went on to say that Mifflin County as a governing body also is responsible for the alleged abuse and is named as a codefendant in the lawsuit.“The county has ultimate responsibility for how the inmates are treated ... we’re saying that the county has a practice that allows for excessive force ... (which) created an atmosphere that encourages this kind of abuse,” Cooke said.Several county officials were contacted for comment on the case, including, Mifflin County Commissioners Otis Riden and Raymond Snyder, Mifflin County Commissioners Chief Clerk Peggy Finkenbiner and Mifflin County Solicitor Patricia Gardner, none of whom would comment on the pending case.Mifflin County Commissioner Susan McCartney was out of town on Wednesday and a message left at her residence was not returned.Gardner did, however, say that “when the county is put on notice they put in a claim with the insurance carrier,” which then assigns an attorney to represent the county. In this case that is attorney David MacMain of the Montgomery McCracken Walker and Rhoades law firm in Philadelphia.“I represent all the defendants in the suit,” MacMain said.“The prison officials acted appropriately ... we look forward to getting the case dismissed, or going to trial if necessary,” MacMain said.Going to trial is just what O’Neil and Cooke are looking forward to, they said.“We have a certain amount of hurdles we have to get over now,” O’Neil said, adding that the trial would most likely take place in June 2008.