A federal grand jury is convening this week to decide whether public corruption charges should brought against a DeSoto County jailer who allegedly told internal affairs investigators he did not report a colleague for abusing a former inmate because he is not a “snitch.”
News reports claim that a massive internal affairs report released this week — the department’s response to the allegations of abuse–show a pattern of orchestrated beatings while the prisoner was being held on a Domestic Violence Injunction.
Internal affairs investigators confirmed what the inmate claimed since his release: that he was battered by a jailer several times, while other staff watched and took no action to stop the abuse.
The inmate claims that on one occasion, DeSoto deputies slammed his head into a concrete wall, punching him in the face and chest and choking him nearly unconscious. Reports claim that the jail staff ignored very visible injuries — much of the inmate’s face and head were purple with bruising — telling colleagues the injuries were self-inflicted.
The IA investigation revealed that the jail commander failed to report the inmate abuse to the department’s chain of command, and to have countermanded a nurse’s directive ordering the inmate to be taken to the hospital, delaying medical care. Charges of conduct unbecoming a deputy and neglect of duty were sustained. He resigned during the investigation late last month, stating in a one-sentence resignation letter he wished to “return to retirement.”
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