|
Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Brian Stout, Former President Trump, Henry Heimuller, Joe Biden, Pat Robertson, Ted Cruz, Joe Biden’s dogs, or Claudia Eagle’s Cats. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone. See Bill’s Standard Disclaimer
|
|
Inmate bitten by sheriffs dog. One of several law Suits filed against Columbia County jail. For Inhuman treatment.
Columbia County Jail
As a new member of the JOAC (citizens advisory committee) over seeing jail issues, I find it disturbing the number of deaths associated with the Columbia County Jail operations. And other bad treatments of inmates. I will be pushing for more transparency, new procedures when it comes to inmate safety and health concerns. There is ZERO reason any one should die in custody under the care of our county jail because of the lack of medical care by our sheriffs department. We do not have to just go by gov. regulations we can implement our own more humane rules and regulations. This we must do. I will also ask the other committee members and county commissioner Margret Magruder that our committee should meet more than every 3 months, at least until these issues are solved. There are other issues regarding the jail and its operations regarding charges associated in taking or (processing) bail money and giving back money from booked inmates from their pockets. There should be no charge to process bail money. Those charges are in the hundreds of dollars. And no inmate should be discharged in the middle of the night without their initial pocket money! I have asked for several documents regarding the deaths/lawsuits and reconciliation on bail and personal monies. As a jail committee person I will do my best to have the entire committee figure these issues out and come to a reasonable outcome for everyone. Death in confinement: Questions remain about three who died in Columbia County Jail. Three people have died in Columbia County's jail since 2020. Since 2020, three people have died in Columbia County's jail. The first, Linda Brown, begged for advanced medical attention repeatedly over the 10 days she was in jail. The second, Bryan Dearden, was found dead by suicide in his cell hours after his lawyer reportedly informed jail staff he was at risk. The third, Bryan Lee Miles, died of causes that remain unclear, as the state and county have refused to provide the medical examiner’s findings. In 2017, jail staff commanded a canine to maul Christopher Bartlett, a homeless man, after he refused to leave his cell. The county settled a lawsuit from Bartlett for $251,000. Again, in 2017, William Derby, a schizophrenic man, attacked his mother after the county released him from jail. A jury later found the county negligent by “failing to adequately train staff regarding mental illness” and ordered the county to pay Derby’s parents $450,572. In 2019, the jail released another homeless man, Taylor Self, without providing medical treatment after an inmate punched him, re-breaking a jaw he’d recently had wired shut. It was late at night, and Self had no money, no cell phone and no car. The jail is at least 30 minutes by car from a hospital. The county paid $140,000 in a settlement to Self in 2021. There is no coherent federal set of rules for how jails provide health care in the United States. Aside from 14 basic statutory standards, Oregon sheriffs have few mandates on how their jails should operate. Come on, One would think that common sense would prevail on how to treat people or give medical treatment to another human being whether they are inmates or not. As you know there has been false arrests and these people are treated just like a criminal. At least the jail treats everybody the same” like crap”. The Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association provides a set of “best practices” for sheriff’s offices to follow in running their jails, and the association says it conducts jail inspections twice per year, the OSSA only inspected the Columbia County Jail in February 2019, March 2021 and March 2023. Again lack of people doing their jobs. When the sheriff has said that changes have been made, no one really knows what type of changes have been made. I hope to find this out soon. Many people in the jail are people with mental issues and need expert care, many have drug issues and need to be placed in places where they can get the help they need. And that is not happening. I think the loss of a life, and the outcome of lawsuits would be a red flag that the jail, and the commissioners need to get on the ball and figure it out immediately. After costing well over a million dollars and several deaths it looks like there is a lack of concern with 3 death in three years. And other issues. Because someone is in jail does not mean they don’t deserve medical treatment or safe conditions. As a society we should demand that all people are subject to life saving treatments and safety no matter what. Parts of this article is taken from the Scappoose Spotlight’s on going article on the jail..
Tammy
|