Mohave County Jail: When is a rape victim not a crime victim?

According to the AZ Constitution's Victim's Bill of Rights, if you are victimized "in custody for an offense", you do not have the rights of any other crime victims. That means that when prosecuting shoplifters, Walmart can claim all the rights of a victim, inculding the right to give input on plea offers and give an impact statement at sentencing. But when a prisoner is sexually abused or assaulted in custody, they are denied the constitutional rights we afford every other victim. Why?

Ask Steve Twist, and help us change this...

From the AZ Constitution VICTIMS' BILL OF RIGHTS, these are the rights these women don't have, if they were considered to be "in custody" when these crimes were perpetrated against them:


Section 2.1. (A) To preserve and protect victims' rights to justice and due process, a victim of crime has a right:

1. To be treated with fairness, respect, and dignity, and to be free from intimidation, harassment, or abuse, throughout the criminal justice process.

2. To be informed, upon request, when the accused or convicted person is released from custody or has escaped.

3. To be present at and, upon request, to be informed of all criminal proceedings where the defendant has the right to be present.

4. To be heard at any proceeding involving a post-arrest release decision, a negotiated plea, and sentencing.

5. To refuse an interview, deposition, or other discovery request by the defendant, the defendant's attorney, or other person acting on behalf of the defendant.

6. To confer with the prosecution, after the crime against the victim has been charged, before trial or before any disposition of the case and to be informed of the disposition.

7. To read pre-sentence reports relating to the crime against the victim when they are available to the defendant.

8. To receive prompt restitution from the person or persons convicted of the criminal conduct that caused the victim's loss or injury.

9. To be heard at any proceeding when any post-conviction release from confinement is being considered.

10. To a speedy trial or disposition and prompt and final conclusion of the case after the conviction and sentence.

11. To have all rules governing criminal procedure and the admissibility of evidence in all criminal proceedings protect victims' rights and to have these rules be subject to amendment or repeal by the legislature to ensure the protection of these rights.

12. To be informed of victims' constitutional rights.

(B) A victim's exercise of any right granted by this section shall not be grounds for dismissing any criminal proceeding or setting aside any conviction or sentence.

(C) "Victim" means a person against whom the criminal offense has been committed or, if the person is killed or incapacitated, the person's spouse, parent, child or other lawful representative, except if the person is in custody for an offense or is the accused.

(D) The legislature, or the people by initiative or referendum, have the authority to enact substantive and procedural laws to define, implement, preserve and protect the rights guaranteed to victims by this section, including the authority to extend any of these rights to juvenile proceedings.

(E) The enumeration in the constitution of certain rights for victims shall not be construed to deny or disparage others granted by the legislature or retained by victims. 

--------------------from Courthouse News---------------

Arizona Jail Guard Accused of Sex Assaults

Courthouse News
August 8, 2013
By TIM HULL


PRESCOTT, Ariz. (CN) - An Arizona jail guard in remote Mohave County strip-searched and sexually assaulted detainees, two women claim in court.

     In a federal lawsuit, Cristi Tutty and Tina Artiglio claim they were assaulted in 2012 by former Mohave County Sheriff's Department detention officer Shannon Correll at the Mohave County Vanderslice Jail Substation.

     Mohave County is northwest Arizona. It borders Utah and Nevada. Its seat is Kingman.

     The women sued the county, its Sheriff Tom Sheahan, jail commander Bruce Brown, and Shannon Michael Correll. They sued Brown and Correll individually and in their official capacity, the sheriff only in his official capacity.

     The women claim the defendants failed to supervise 25-year-old Correll and that the substation jail is inappropriate for female detainees.

     Correll pleaded guilty in November 2012 to unlawful sexual conduct with Tutty; three other felony charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement, according to the complaint.

     Correll, of Bullhead City, later pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual conduct with Artiglio, and was sentenced to prison, the complaint states.

     The Kingman Daily Miner reported this year that Correll's sentencing in the first case was postponed after he was indicted a second time.

     Correll was charged with unlawful sexual conduct and false imprisonment in Tutty's case, and with kidnapping and unlawful sexual intercourse with Artiglio, according to the newspaper.

     In the lawsuit, Tutty claims that while she was being detained overnight for a domestic disturbance in August 2012, Correll took her to a storage shed at the substation, forced her to strip naked and propositioned her several times.

     Correll had taken Artiglio to the same shed about a month earlier, according the to complaint.

     "On July 6, 2012, Ms. Artiglio was arrested for an alleged traffic warrant and transported to the Mohave County Sheriff Department's Vanderslice Substation in Mohave Valley," the lawsuit states. "When Ms. Artiglio was being booked into the jail Detention Officer Correll began telling her how 'sexy' she was, that she had the 'hottest body' he had ever seen, and he asked her if she 'wanted to play and have some fun'. Ms. Artiglio tried to ignore Correll but she could not get him to stop harassing her. Officer Correll then instructed Ms. Artiglio to go with him to the laundry room to get some jail clothes. Ms. Artiglio began to get suspicious and feel uncomfortable, telling him that there were a lot of cameras and someone might see; however, he told her that no one watches the cameras and there were no cameras past the smoking area. Officer Correll told her that he could also erase the video from the cameras and if anyone asked, he would just say he was on a smoke break. Ms. Artiglio then acquiesced to Officer Correll's authority and went with him.

     "When the two entered the laundry room, which is located in the storage shed outside of the main station where Officer Correll later took plaintiff Tutty, Officer Correll told Ms. Artiglio to sit on the washing machine and she complied. Correll undid his pants and proceeded to masturbate. He ejaculated towards Ms. Artiglio and then approached her and pushed her backwards onto the washing machine, lifted up her dress and began to have sexual intercourse with her, which was forceful and lasted approximately 20 to 30 minutes.
No protection was used. She did not perform oral sex on him, but believes he performed oral sex on her.
Although Ms. Artiglio never said, 'No' and did not yell out for help, she was scared and felt like she had no choice but to endure the assault as she did not know what he would do to her if she denied his advances. Ms. Artiglio refused to talk dirty to Correll when he asked her to. Moreover, Ms. Artiglio refused to show Officer Correll her breasts when he asked to see them. He did, though, end up taking off her bra, which he placed with her other clothing items after the assault."

     Both women reported Correll to the authorities. He was fired, and eventually pleaded guilty to the assaults, according to the complaint. The investigation revealed that Correll had bragged about his exploits.
     "Inmates also told the detective(s) that they had witnessed Officer Correll make sexual advances towards at least two other female detainees on other nights and that he had bragged to the male inmates about having had sexual intercourse in the shed with at least one of those female inmates," the complaint states.
(Parentheses in complaint.)

     Tutty and Artiglio seeks damages for unreasonable search and seizure, unlawful sexual conduct, assault and battery, infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy. They also want an injunction to prohibit the sheriff from detaining women in the substation jail.

     Mohave County Sheriff's spokeswoman Trish Carter told Courthouse News the department does not comment on pending litigation.

     The women are represented by Lee Phillips of Flagstaff.

Mohave County's Holiday Cheer for the Poor: New Jail.

Those of you in Mohave County know that the new jail is now open in Kingman, as about 350 prisoners were moved there yesterday. The Sheriff's website hasn't been updated with new visitation or a clear mail policy yet, so I called the information line this afternoon (928-753-0759).


KINGMAN
DANGER: KEEP OUT

(this is neither the new nor the old jail, by the way - just a well-placed word of warning to unsuspecting travelers and home-grown drug addicts who haven't found redemption yet: they have plenty of beds to put us up in now)


I always hate to see new jails and prisons built - especially at a time when so many people have been losing their homes and jobs and health care...those places are overwhelmingly filled with the poor. But the old one was in horrible shape, and posed a threat to the health and safety of prisoners and officers alike. It's just so sad to see such an enormous investmant made in plans for large numbrs of prisoners down the road, instead of expecting the region's kids to grow into high school and college classrooms and find homes that their incomes can afford.


Anyway, the officer I spoke to was quite pleasant and professional, but advised that visitation has been suspended for all prisoners, until further notice, due to the move. She suggested calling back on Wednesday or Thursday (December 15/16) to see if they had worked out a schedule yet. The officer I spoke to expressed hope, but not certainty, that visitation would resume before Christmas. The officer was unable to find the new jail's mailing address, but assured me that prisoner mail can still be sent to the old jail - at least for now.


That address is:
Mohave County Jail
415 Pine Street
Kingman, AZ 86401
Phone: 928-753-0759


Remember that you can only use standard store-bought postcards, write in black or blue ballpoint pen, no highlighter or felt tip markers, no stickers or crayons, and keep your conversation away from inflammatory, provocative, and (of course) criminal subjects. DOn't send stamps or cash, either. Be sure your name and return address is clearly visible, as well, and that you are using the legal name of the person you're writing to.


If you have legal documents you want to provide a prisoner, either suggest that they request the specific item from the jail law library, or pass the material on to their attorney to give to them. Actually, below is the notice I received from the jail in correspondence they returned when I tried to send information to John McCluskey about concern for his legal rights as a prisoner and defendant. There are quite a few rules that make frank correspondence difficult, and the limited visitation opportunities leaves prisoners extremely isolated and families feeling abandoned.


It would help if this kind of information was readily available on the jail's website, along with the inmate manual, so family and friends have a clue about their policies there. I'm learning to write long, open letters on postcards now, between the Mohave and Maricopa County Jails. Frankly, I think if they're going to strip-search our mail for contraband and forbid contact visits with prisoners, they should strip-search and sniff every single guard when they arrive for shift, too.

(you may have to click on this and download it, then print to read it -
sorry it's such a poor quality.)

Warehousing human beings in a new jail for 72 million

Borrowed from the Real Cost of Prisons:

November 02, 2010
$72 million county jail to open with 688 "beds"

"The new jail will have space for 688 beds to begin with, including an incomplete pod that would allow expansion t o 850 beds. Construction of that section, if needed, would take about six months. The jail also could be expanded further to almost 1,400 beds. The jail also will be able to house 144 female adults. The current jail has space for 80 women.""Sheahan said a few televisions may be placed in the day room in the minimum level pods. Unlike jail life portrayed in movies, inmates will not have cigarettes, coffee, recreation equipment or access to basketball courts. Food will be brought to inmates in their cells on trays. Inmates also may be able to work in the kitchen or laundry facility."

$72 million county jail to open next monthBy JIM SECKLER/The Mohave Daily NewsPublished:

Tuesday, November 2, 2010
KINGMAN — Mohave County inmates will get a radically different and very stark home next month when they are soon transferred to the new county jail.

Sheriff Tom Sheahan and Jail Commander Bruce Brown gave media from the Tri-state a tour of the new jail Thursday, which is expected to open in about a month. Once completed, the sheriff’s office expects to transfer all its inmates to the new facility within 24 hours. No official opening date was given. The existing jail and a jail annex will then be closed, Sheahan said.

Sheahan gave a brief history of the existing jail, which opened in 1986 after the federal government forced the county to build the jail because of a lawsuit by inmates two years earlier. The existing jail is suppose to house a maximum of 200 inmates but usually holds twice that many on any given day. The sheriff also said almost on a daily occurrence some mechanical equipment, whether air conditioning, heating, plumbing or electronics, breaks down at the current jail.

The new jail will have space for 688 beds to begin with, including an incomplete pod that would allow expansion t o 850 beds. Construction of that section, if needed, would take about six months. The jail also could be expanded further to almost 1,400 beds. The jail also will be able to house 144 female adults. The current jail has space for 80 women.

The new $72 million, 242,000-square-foot jail county jail in Kingman just off Interstate 40 is being built on a 19-acre county-owned site across a ravine from the county administration building. The jail is a design-build project where the county would lease the jail back at a low rate until it owns it, similar to financing the administration building.

Sheahan said the state-of-the-art county jail will house all levels of inmates who await their court cases being resolved whether they are sexual predators, murderers or kidnappers and the jail needs to be as safe and secure as a state prison. About 208 cameras are scattered throughout the new jail monitoring every square inch of the jail 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“The goal is to minimize the movement of inmates,” Brown said. “Less movement means less chance of escape and less chance of assaults.”

Visiting family members or attorneys will not have physical contact of any kind with the inmates. Rooms will be available for family members or attorneys to speak by video to the inmates. Even in A-pod, which will house the most serious criminals, contact with other inmates is limited if not eliminated. Alleged sex offenders will be placed in a special management area, separate from the rest of the inmates.

Problems that have plagued the existing jail will not happen in the new jail such as breaking off sprinkler heads, which will be impossible to do. Inmates who try to flush the toilet more than three times in an attempt to flood the cell will see the water automatically turned off, Brown said.
A-pod inmates will sit in their 70-square-foot cell 23 hours a day with one hour out alone in the day room. As in any cell, there is no Internet service and no television. Entrance into A-pod cells is through sliding doors for officer safety compared to doors that swing out in other pods. There are 40 single-bed A-pod cells, Brown said.

Sheahan said a few televisions may be placed in the day room in the minimum level pods. Unlike jail life portrayed in movies, inmates will not have cigarettes, coffee, recreation equipment or access to basketball courts. Food will be brought to inmates in their cells on trays. Inmates also may be able to work in the kitchen or laundry facility.

The new jail also will be able to house 24 juveniles, charged as adults with crimes ranging from sexual assault, murder or other serious crimes. Twelve cells will be available for boys and 12 cells are for girls. The juvenile section will have also a classroom for juveniles to finish high school. Juveniles 14 to 17 years old will be housed in that area and once they turn 18, are reassigned to the adult section.

The brains of the new computerized jail will be a central control room where guards can monitor every camera and record everything almost endlessly on 14 digital video recorders. Even access to elevators will be controlled. Inmates will be housed in only three of the six floors.
A medical section will allow inmates to be treated for most injuries reducing the number of trips to a hospital. There also are two empty padded cells or rooms where a mentally ill inmate cannot hurt themselves or others. There are even ventilated-controlled rooms for inmates with a communicable disease.

Sheahan said once the new jail is built, one option may be to use the existing jail as a temporary holding cell for inmates who have court hearings that day making one trip in the morning and one in the afternoon depending on a judge’s calendar. Video hearings also could be used in some court hearings. A courtroom for a visiting judge also is available at the new jail if needed.

Currently, staffing for the existing nearly 30-year county jail is about 38 corrections officers, 11 officer assistants and one detention supervisor. The new jail will have 105 corrections officers and 38 support staff. Corrections officers in the A-pod will have more training to deal with the more serious level inmates.

http://www.mohavedailynews.com/articles/2010/11/02/news/local/doc4ccfb444f3e95847616485.txt

Mohave County housing costs for petty criminals going up.

County supervisors to look at jail housing increase

By JIM SECKLER/

Mohave Daily News

Published: Tuesday, July 6, 2010 12:02 AM MDT

KINGMAN — The rising cost to Mohave County’s three cities to house inmates charged in city courts will go before the county supervisors today.

If passed by the supervisors, the agreement would raise the cost to each city for the 2010-11 fiscal year to $62.11 a day per prisoner, retroactive to Thursday. Once the new county jail is completed by September or October, the cost to each city would increase to $79.46 a day per prisoner. Sheriff Tom Sheahan recently told the board that jail bookings increased to 11,000 his year.

The housing cost the county currently charges is $58 a day per inmate. There also is a one-time booking fee of $65 per prisoner per day, which will remain the same. The fee is for inmates charged with misdemeanors in the three cities’ municipal courts. The county funds about 93 percent of the cost of jail services for inmates charged with felonies and charges the cities the rest for misdemeanor bookings.

The county currently is building a $72 million county jail in Kingman just off Interstate 40. The 242,000-square-foot jail is being built on a 19-acre county-owned site across from the county administration building. The three-story jail will have space for 688 beds housing more than 700 inmates, with room to expand to more than 1,100 beds.

A recently bought passenger bus will be used to take jail inmates from the new jail to Superior Court. The existing over-crowded county jail is across the street from the courthouse and guards walk inmates to court.

At a May board meeting, the city managers and mayors of Bullhead City, Kingman and Lake Havasu City opposed the increase in jail costs. At the meeting, Bullhead City Manager Toby Cotter said 10 other Arizona counties do not charge booking fees for inmates. He also said taxpayers are charged twice, once for the cost of a new jail being constructed in Kingman by a quarter-cent sales tax, and again with the inmate housing fee. County Manager Ron Walker said five of those 10 counties have jail districts, for which taxpayers pay a tax anyway.

The board will hold its meeting at 9:30 a.m. today in the board of supervisor’s auditorium at the county administration building, 700 W. Beale St., Kingman.

Inmate files suit: Mohave County Jail

Inmate files federal suit against sheriff and jail staff

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 12:24 AM CST

Bullhead City man seeks jury trial and $150 million in damages

By JIM SECKLER/The Daily News

KINGMAN - A Bullhead City man now in prison for the next three decades filed a federal lawsuit against the Mohave County sheriff, the jail commanders and several others.

Leroy Montoya, 43, filed the suit Sept. 25 in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. Named in the lawsuit were Sheriff Tom Sheahan, Jail Director Bruce Brown, the deputy director, seven correction officers, a sheriff deputy, a Kingman police officer and a jail nurse. Montoya is currently serving his sentence at a prison near Yuma.

Montoya's complaint involves four counts including the denial of medical care, denial of due process and access to court. The complaint asks for $50 million in compensatory damages, $50 million in punitive damages, $50 million in nominal damages and a jury trial on the issues in the complaint.

The complaint stems from a 15-minute racial fight that started a little after 10 p.m. May 17, 2007 when Montoya and six Hispanics were reportedly attacked by 40 Caucasians at the county jail. Six of the correction officers and another witness watched the fight and reportedly did nothing, the complaint stated.

Montoya complained of broken fingers and ribs, possible head injuries, cuts and bruises to the head. The complaint stated that the doctor told Montoya he was dehydrated and to drink water.

In March, Montoya was sentenced to 26 years in prison after being convicted for criminal damage, fraud and participating in a street gang. He was also sentenced to an additional 10 years in prison after he was convicted in May of theft and trafficking in stolen property. He also was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted in May 2007 of theft and fraud but the Arizona Court of Appeals threw out one of the charges.