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Four guards arrested in jail death
by Chris Lewis,
clewis@nashvillecitypaper.com
http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=9&screen=news&news_id=44813
Four correctional officers have been indicted on
charges of reckless homicide and aggravated
assault in the death of an inmate last year at the
Metro Detention Facility on Harding Place. The
guards, employed by Nashville-based Corrections
Corporation of America, are accused of using
excessive force on Estelle Richardson a day
before she was found unresponsive in her cell.
The Nashville police and Medical Examiner’s
office ruled the death as a homicide, after an
autopsy showed Richardson had died of a skull
fracture caused by blunt trauma. She also suffered
internal injuries. Armed with a Davidson County
grand jury indictment, police arrested the officers
earlier this week and they all posted $25,000 bail,
according to their attorneys. The guards - Jeremy
N. Neese, 25, Keith A. Hendricks, 37, Joshua
Schockman, 24, and William Wood, 27 - had
been placed on administrative leave by CCA
after the incident.
Attorneys for the guards said they were surprised
by the arrests, but are also confident their clients
will be exonerated.
"None of these four caused the death of this woman,"
said Neese’s attorney, Paul Bruno, adding that defense
attorneys have been gathering facts in the case.
"This is a case where we know the facts going into
it before the indictment goes down and we are very
confident in our defense," he said.
Jim Price, attorney for Schockman, said he was
surprised at the arrests, because he thought the
case had been closed about a year ago.
"It had been referred to the United States Attorney,
and when that happens, it’s a possible civil rights
violation, and that’s not normally done unless the
state closes [the case]," he said.
Davidson County Assistant District Attorney Rob
McGuire said the U.S. Attorney’s office had looked
at the case, but added, "I think they’ve decided the
case is more appropriately prosecuted by the state."
Bruno said Neese was completely caught off guard when officers woke him out of bed
Monday morning, arrested him and took him to jail. He said Neese would have been
willing to turn himself in, which the other three defendants did after the learned
about Neese’s arrest.
Police said that Richardson, 34, incarcerated for a probation violation, was the only
inmate in her cell when she and the guards became involved in the “incident” last
year.
The guardian of Richardson’s two children, aged 14 and 6, filed a $60 million
wrongful death suit against CCA and the four guards. Their attorney, David Randolph
Smith, said he is still collecting evidence in the civil case.
“I think I can speak for the family, they are glad the process is going forward and
justice will come out however it comes out,” he said.
CCA officials said they have cooperated fully with investigations and have also
conducted their own probe into the incident. The company is the largest private
prison operator in the United States
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and other beneficiaries of the institutionalized slavery and genocide.
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undermines military dictatorships and military lobbyists. It subverts
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