Facilities in county stretched beyond the limit
 
By David Bell
Today's News-Herald
 
KINGMAN - Two holding cells are built to handle 22 men. Forty-four men are incarcerated.

The Mohave County Jail system is packed. In mid-August, nearly 600 men and women were jammed into every free bit of space Sheriff Tom Sheahan could find. And Sheahan expects things to get worse before they get better.

"We should hit 10,000 bookings this year," Sheahan said.

Sheahan and Capt. Bruce Brown, who heads up the Corrections Division, are housing prisoners in the main jail facility next to the county courthouse, the jail annex in the old Kingman Armory, at the old SHOCK juvenile incarceration facility at the Kingman Airport and, when possible, at the Lake Havasu City and Mohave Valley Sheriff's substations.

"There are days we'd all rather be at a beach in Cancun, but we do the job we have to do," said Brown. It's the officers that make the difference. Male and female alike, they deal with a daily onslaught of insults, urine and feces hurled at them, the attacks, including spittle."

Last week, inmate John David Kumpitsch, 44, of Kingman, was charged with aggravated assault for spitting on a detention officer.

"Every day they do their job," said Brown.

Men, women prisoners

Julie (not her real name) said her time in jail was a “major eye opener.”

Convicted of forgery, she served 42 days in Mohave County Jail. For females, the jail has two sections - called “pods” - supposed to hold up to 40 prisoners. On any given day, 70 to 80 female prisoners are there.

"There were girls sleeping on the floors, on mats," said Julie.

Lunch for the women is the same as men: bologna sandwiches, water and a piece of fruit. Every day.

She said a few people would try to sneak in contraband, such as tobacco, by having family members drop it into trash cans around the jail and have a trusty gather it when out on cleaning detail.

"And the men and women prisoners would talk to each other by fishing through toilets," Julie said. "What they would do is write on sheets, shred them up and put them into the toilets. The men are on the upper level and the women right below so if they flushed at the same time, the sheets would come up through the pipes."

Though she said there were prisoners who tried to run things, she called them "Pod Gods," she said violence rarely was seen in the female lockup.

"As soon as the guard sees anything, they are right there," she said. "I don't know how anybody could get away with anything because the guards were always watching us."

As if to prove Julie correct, the Sheriff's Office arrested Carrie Jane Ford, 46, of Kingman recently for bringing tobacco into the jail.

"Anything that is alleged is investigated. We'll bring in outside investigators if need be," said Sheahan. "We investigate and prosecute."

Violent conditions

But violence is a reality at the jail, especially given the nature of the crimes the prisoners are convicted of or charged with. Through mid-August, 21 alleged murderers were in the jail, four of them women. Add in the various factions at war over drug deals and gangs, and it's a recipe for disaster unless drastic measures are taken.

That means using one of the pods strictly for the most violent offenders, "the worst of the worst," as Sheahan calls them. Sixteen men are in A-Pod. These offenders are in cells 23 hours each day, getting one hour to shower, make a call or see an attorney. Twice each week, as part of the hour, they go outside for exercise. And each has to get his hour alone so there's no contact with other prisoners.

Then there are the sex offenders in B-Pod. They can't be mixed in with general population because career criminals don't care for those who prey on women and especially children. But even in that group there is a pecking order. The polygamists from Colorado City have to be separated from the other sex offenders, or the polygamists may not survive.

That leaves everyone else jammed into general population, crowding more inmates into less space, creating even more trouble.

"This is why we need to build a new, solid jail," said Sheahan. "These people are a danger to themselves, to the others in the jail and to the officers."

Tomorrow, part 2 where Sheahan and a former prisoner discuss discipline in the jail, and the impact drugs and mental illness has on the jail population.
 
havasunews.com
Originally published Tuesday, September 5, 2006
 
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