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June 5, 2005 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)

Inquiry Could Change Prisons

Corrections Chief Says He Takes Complaints Seriously And Won't Tolerate Abuse

By Carlos Campos

Return to Drug War News: Don't Miss Archive

Claims of inmate beatings at a southeast Georgia prison will be thoroughly investigated and may ultimately lead to changes in the Department of Corrections, Commissioner James Donald said in an interview.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into allegations by a former guard at Rogers State Prison in Reidsville that handcuffed inmates there are routinely beaten.

Five employees of the prison, including the warden and deputy warden, have been suspended with pay while investigators check out claims made by guard Tommy Cardell. In a separate incident, a sixth guard has been suspended for allegedly striking an inmate over the Memorial Day weekend.

"I want to assure you and everybody else that we take our responsibility seriously and we will recommend charges be brought in case of inmate abuse if this is, in fact, established," Donald said in an interview last week with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "We will absolutely not tolerate this type of conduct."

Even while Donald stressed that Cardell's claims are unproven, he praised Cardell's "courage" in coming forward to report the allegations and said Corrections' officials have found him to be credible.

Cardell has claimed he tried to tell supervisors about what he had witnessed, but was brushed off and eventually fired for being a whistle-blower. Cardell was rehired, kept on suspension with pay until the investigation is over.

Donald said he's considering action to stem future incidents, including the possibility of hiring an employee to specifically handle complaints about the prison system.

"We're also right now considering an ombudsman, an advocate for the inmate - perhaps on our staff," Donald said. "In a way that people out there, if they do have things to bring to us, they can."

Several prison agencies around the nation employ an ombudsman, but the concept would be new to Georgia.

Donald said it "would bother me tremendously" if it is proved that Cardell's allegations were initially ignored by his own investigators.

He says he and his senior staff are now fully engaged in checking out Cardell's allegations. Donald said he has been to Rogers, a medium-security prison farm where inmates produce food for the system, twice in recent days.

Since taking over in December 2003, Donald has focused much of his efforts on stemming the return of felons to prison by focusing on inmate rehabilitation. The retired two-star Army general, who had no experience in corrections prior to his hiring by Gov. Sonny Perdue, has rejected some of the strong-arm tactics of his predecessors, instead encouraging mutual respect between inmates and prison guards and employees.

Donald said inmates are the sons and daughters of Georgians and while they deserve to be incarcerated for their crimes, "it does not negate the fact that they should be protected."

Last year, Donald closed four regional Corrections offices around the state, each with a director, to save money. Donald said he doesn't believe the closing of those offices resulted in less supervision of prison wardens.

Donald said the offices were becoming bloated with staff and duplicating many of the administrative services of the department's central offices in Atlanta. The regional directors are still out in the field, Donald said.

"By and large, the same regional commanders are out there in the field, not hamstrung by administrative requirements anymore," Donald said, "but have nothing more to do these days but to coach and mentor, inspect and make sure that people are living by Georgia Department of Corrections standards."

Donald said he also plans to step up unannounced inspections, or "shakedowns" of state prisons. The shakedowns have netted huge caches of homemade weapons and illegal drugs, including some smuggled in by prison guards.

Still, Donald said he continues to believe that the vast majority of Department of Corrections employees do a great job managing some 50,000 prison inmates and another 130,000 probationers on a daily basis. Donald noted that he has visited all of the state's prisons and does not believe inmate abuse is systemic.

"The centerpiece of the Department of Corrections is its people," Donald said. "And we have some people out there who are clearly unsung heroes. And if there's just one among us who doesn't get the message, then we will deal with it."

Contact Carlos Campos at ccampos@ajc.com

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