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Sheriff: Policies in place to prevent fraternization in jails
Sheriff: Policies in place to prevent fraternization in jails
Quote:
BY STEVE E. SWENSON, Californian staff writer
Jan 13 2010
The Kern County Sheriff's Department has no need to change its policies and procedures after a female detention officer was accused this week of having sex with a Death Row inmate in Lerdo Jail, Sheriff Donny Youngblood said Wednesday.
"She (allegedly) just chose to violate the policies and procedures," Youngblood said of 48-year-old Margarita Young, who is charged with having sex at the Lerdo Pre-Trial facility with 41-year-old Timothy Titus Rodriguez.
"Part of the investigation is correspondence purportedly written by her to him that was found in his cell," Youngblood said.
Young, an 11-year employee at the jail, reportedly had five sexual encounters with Rodriguez beginning Oct. 17 while he was on trial for the 2007 robbery and baseball bat bludgeoning murder of a 90-year-old woman. He was sentenced to death Jan. 6 and is now in state prison.
The investigation of Young began in November when other detention officers became suspicious of how Young interacted with Rodriguez, Youngblood said.
"Other officers said something is not right here," the sheriff said.
November is also the month that Young for the second time filed for a divorce from her husband, Brian S. Young. The first time was in October 2008, but that case was dropped in May 2009, court records say.
The criminal allegations against Young are the first time a deputy has been charged with having sex with an inmate since former sheriff's Cmdr. Donald Fredenburg was accused in 1993 of having sex with a female inmate within the jail house in encounters allegedly arranged with the help of Senior Deputy Gary Stephens.
Both men resigned before criminal charges were filed, but after a trial they were convicted of related charges, but not the sexual charges. Fredenburg was sentenced to four years in prison.
Youngblood and Cmdr. Kenny Williams, who oversees the jail operations, said it is very hard to have sex with an inmate in the jail, but it's possible.
If it is done, it violates a very clear fraternization policy that says "personnel shall not become sexually, emotionally or personally involved with inmates," or grant them special favors, Williams said.
Williams discussed some other policies and procedures in place to prevent such problems. The jail's set-up and operation would make any such conduct "very risky" for the people involved, he said.
"It's very difficult for that to happen," Williams said. "You have a lot of people coming and going."
Beyond that, it's possible for an inmate who overtook a friendly guard to create major problems in a pod, including letting inmates out of their cells, mixing inmates who don't belong together and putting other officers at risk of harm, Williams said.
"That's why we have the rules," he said.
A stack of investigation reports in the Young-Rodriguez case may take a week or more to become public. What is alleged to have specifically happened in this case will be detailed in those reports.
But a one-page report in the court file said Rodriguez told of sexual encounters with Young in the E-pod part of the Lerdo Pre-Trial facility. He said they took place in an attorney visiting booth, a bathroom in the control booth, a bathroom below the control booth and twice in a mop bucket room.
While there are some security cameras in E-pod to help officers in the control booth see a few hallways not clearly visible from the control booth, there are no cameras that would capture any activity in the places where Rodriguez says the incidents happened, Williams said.
He continued with the following description:
Generally in a pod there is a control room officer and a floor officer who work 12-hour shifts and switch places every six hours. The floor officer checks on and interacts with inmates while the control officer watches the hallways, day rooms and cameras.
The two officers could hide from each other, but they risk being seen by various supervisors who make unannounced trips to the pods.
An elaborate intercom system in every cell and or near almost all the rooms allows inmates or officers to talk with each other, or for a control officer to listen.
The detention officers generally carry pepper spray and handcuffs, while a few may have a Taser. None have night sticks. They have keys to some rooms, but none to get out of the building. Cells are opened from the control booth.
No inmates are allowed in the control booth. An officer cannot leave a control booth unattended. But if an inmate got into a control booth, he could open cell doors.
Officers and inmates can have private conversations without regard to gender, but generally those conversations are within view or earshot of another officer. Most private conversations happen with an inmate talking through his cell door to a floor officer.
A murder suspect may be allowed out of his cell with other inmates during the day, unless the suspect has assaulted staff. If he has assaulted staff, at least two officers must escort him when he leaves a cell.
No inmate is allowed in the attorney side of a visiting area. An inmate and officer can go into a mop bucket room but that's generally for cleaning instructions.
Officers are trained not to put themselves in dangerous situations.
As for problems alleged in the Young case, Williams said officers have a code of conduct to uphold.
"We want very high morals and good ethical behavior," Williams said. "When they violate that, it leaves a bad stain on all of us."
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