For a Prisoner’s Alleged Beating, Five Harris County, Texas, Jailers have been Criminally Indicted
On Tuesday, December 5, 2017, five jailers with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office were indicted in connection with an alleged beating of a prisoner at Harris County Jail in Houston, Texas, which occurred in September 2016. The prisoner, Jerome Bartee, required facial reconstruction after the incident. To reconstruct his face, a plate, stitches, and screws were needed. He also suffered a shattered eye socket, according to a news release from the office of Kim Ogg, Harris County District Attorney. A surveillance video at the jail captured the entire alleged beating, although one of the officers attempted to turn the video camera off at one point. Four detention officers have been charged with aggravated assault by a public servant. The fifth detention officer was indicted for misdemeanor assault. Warrants for the arrest of all five jailers were issued. The men were suspended several days after the incident, following an internal affairs investigation.
According to court filings, Bartee told employees at the jail that he was suffering from a severe toothache, and he requested medical attention. A detention officer escorted him to the clinic and allegedly shoved him into a door in the clinic hallway, and the action was unprovoked. Several other detention officers also went to the scene and allegedly physically assaulted Bartee. They allegedly threw him into a podium and into a chair. They also allegedly beat and stomped him until he was nearly unconscious. Employees at the jail took Bartee to Ben Taub Hospital, but he was returned to the general population at Harris County Jail later that day, with bruises and sutures.
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