Darius Young said he had to speak out.
In a press conference last week at the American Civil Liberties Union local office on Whittier, the 17-year ex-supervisor came forward as one of the six unnamed guards who contributed to the ACLU’s blistering report on alleged human rights violations in the city’s jails.
“All I want to see is for people to be treated fairly and like human beings, that’s the bottom line,” Young told the American.
Young, identified as “CO1” in the report, refutes accusations Corrections Superintendent Eugene Stubblefield told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that he was insensitive to inmates’ needs and disciplined for violating the use-of-force policy.
“These statements that Gene Stubblefield has made about me using excessive force are not true,” Young said. “It’s not within me to hurt another human being.”
Stubblefield did not respond to calls from the American to address allegations in the report or of Young’s termination.
According to Young, the incident Stubblefield is referring to happened in November 2007 and involves that of an “unruly” inmate who was “screaming, beating and kicking” on the cell doors.
After directing the inmate to stop several times and giving him time to cool down, Young said, he gave orders for four other correctional officers to handcuff him and strip his cell, per protocol. The officers did so, Young said, but during the altercation the inmate head-butted one of the guards, causing a contusion.
Young videotaped the incident.
He was written up for not ordering the officers to dress out in protective gear and for scratches on the inmate’s wrist, which he said apparently came from the handcuffs.
“Had he kept beating and kicking on the door and hurt himself in any way, I would be sitting here answering some other charge,” Young said. “It’s like you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
According to the Civil Service Commission’s ruling, Young was charged for “violating staff work rules, incident reporting and disciplinary segregation” and suspended for 10 days. Young, however, said the report was vague and that his bosses did not let him state his case during the hearing.
“This was like a golden egg for them,” he said of the incident. “They saw it as the perfect opportunity to get me on something, and they did.”
‘Through hell’
Young took his concerns to the ACLU in 2007 because his bosses ignored his complaints about safety and overcrowding issues. Stubblefield declined meetings with supervisors to address those issues, Young said.
Young worked as a night supervisor at the Workhouse for 17 years before he was terminated in April 2008. He was hired there in 1991 as a correctional officer, worked his way up to a level two correctional officer and was promoted to supervisor in 2000.
During that time he said he had gotten his college degree and earned a reputation at the Workhouse as being no-nonsense but fair. As sometimes the highest-ranking officer on site, he managed more than 1,000 inmates and at least 25 staff members.
“Around 2007, that’s when the problems really began to start,” he recalled. The system had been trying to push him out before he was actually terminated last year, he said.
He was written up in 2002 for not inspecting a truck before it entered the facility, and again in 2008 for failing to follow a supervisor’s orders.
He turned off lights and televisions early, not because he did not want to interact with prisoners, as Stubblefield told the Post Dispatch, but for public safety reasons and because many inmates had to wake up early for court the next morning, Young said.
“If you look at any other jail in this country, how many inmates are allowed to stay up until 1:30 in the morning watching TV?” Young said.
He was fired in April 2008 for working a second job for the St. Louis Public Schools, violating a rule against working for another City agency.
“I have been through hell,” he said. “And those people down there that I worked with – some of the supervisors on my level and some of the supervisors under me – know they put me through hell.”
Redditt Hudson, ACLU program associate who wrote the report, said Young’s case is an example of how whistleblowers are met with retaliation by administrators.
During last Thursday’s press conference, Young stood by the claims he told the ACLU.
He is the only ACLU source to come forward publicly. The other five anonymous guards still work in Corrections, Hudson said.
On Friday, Public Safety Director Charles Bryson, who oversees the corrections division and reports directly to the mayor, deferred comment to Ed Rhode, a spokesman for Mayor Francis G. Slay. Rhode did not answer calls seeking comment.
Inmate death
Inmate David C. Dalton hung himself on Monday at the Justice Center after he found out his plea deal would mean prison time for robbery, according to media reports.
A correctional officer found the inmate hanging by a bedsheet from a light fixture in his cell Monday evening.
The 29-year-old inmate’s death comes on the heels of the ACLU’s preliminary investigation into St. Louis’ jails.
The incident resembles similar incidents written in the ACLU’s report, executive director Brenda Jones said in a written statement. “Further investigation will determine whether this event is part of an ongoing pattern.”
