Officer misconduct is becoming a more recognizable flaw in the system built to house criminals. Some correction officers let the “power” they are given go to their heads. A few act as though they have the authority to do whatever they like, including taking the law into their own hands.
Officer Misconduct Behind Closed Doors
Authorities have charged a Cook County correctional officer with beating an inmate who was handcuffed to a wall. The officer’s name was Richard Smith, age 44, and the report says that he assaulted the man sometime last fall. Officer Smith has been working with the sheriff’s office since 2010. Richard had been working in the Cook County Jail’s residential treatment unit.
The unit specifically works with people with medical and mental health issues. The inmate’s left arm was handcuffed to a wall in the unit’s dorm on September 20. Video footage shows Smith and another officer approaching the inmate to talk to him and then start beating the inmate over the head and in the body.
The video showed the other officer trying to gain control over the inmate’s right arm. Smith, however, continued to beat up the inmate even after backup officers arrived on the scene. According to the sheriff’s office, officer Smith had struck the 24-year-old inmate over 30 times.
Can’t Do the Time… Don’t Do the Crime
Officer Smith was de-deputized shortly after the incident and is no longer allowed to work with jail inmates. He has turned himself in and has been charged with aggravated battery and official misconduct. Officer Smith has been suspended without pay, and the Sheriff Merit Board is moving to fire him.
This type of misconduct has cost him Officer Smith his FOID card (Firearm Owners Identification Card) and all of his firearms. Smith’s bond was set to $50,000, and they directed him not to have any contact with the victim or witness if he posts bail.
However, this is not the only case where an officer abuses their power to beat an inmate in Cook County.
What You Gonna Do When They Come for You?
Another case of such an incident involves a man named Miguel Ortiz, 44 years old. On July 27, 2016, Miguel was charged with two counts of Officer Misconduct for physically beating a Cook County Jail inmate. Investigators deemed this act of misconduct a class 3 felony.
Officer Ortiz worked in the Cook County Sheriff’s Office for 21 years. On the day of January 17, 2014, a male inmate named Litroy Bolton was transported from Division 6 to Division 8 of the Cook County Jail. Previously, the inmate had been in an altercation with several officers who were moving him.
Bolton had made a note that another inmate had been in the cell. Unfortunately, he also noted that they had not cleaned the cell since they moved the last inmate out prior to his transfer.
Bolton refused to enter the cell upon seeing it. That is when Ortiz beat the individual.
The Handcuffs of Wrath
Another case where an inmate had been beaten by correctional officers was the case of Reginald Roberson. Reginald Roberson, age 52, assaulted an inmate after wrapping handcuffs around his knuckles. On Dec. 29, 2021, an inmate requested medical assistance and was denied by Roberson.
The inmate began to walk on his own toward the medical facility when Roberson grabbed him and forced him back into the bullpen. Shortly after, Roberson went for a pair of handcuffs and put them over his right hand around his knuckles. The inmate tried to ask when he would be taken back to his wing, when Roberson walked in and punched him three times in the face.
The inmate suffered a cut on his ear and a cut under his left eye, and was taken to the infirmary to receive stitches. They captured the entire incident on surveillance footage. The Cook County Sheriff’s office is moving to have him fired despite him being with the sheriff’s office since March 1999. The announcement of charges against Roberson came the day after correctional officer Richard Smith, 44, was charged with beating a jail inmate who was handcuffed to a wall last fall.
The Beat Down on Crooked Cops
Officer Ortiz had heard an argument start off between the inmate and the officers. He was working in the control room across the hall where the commotion had begun. There was a scuffle between Officer Ortiz and the inmate, which caused the inmate to fall on the floor. The video surveillance showed Officer Ortiz kneeling down and punching the fallen inmate a number of times, all aimed at his head.
Additional officers were seen rushing into the room to stop the altercation. The other officers began to handcuff the inmate shortly after the beating.
Bolton suffered from pretty bad wounds and was taken to the Cermak Hospital to be treated. Two Cook County Jail video surveillance cameras recorded accounts of this event occurring.
Officer Ortiz had claimed that the inmate had stood in a fighting stance, which drove him to attack Bolton. However, footage has proven this version to be false. The surveillance cameras show Officer Ortiz attacking the inmate unprovoked. That was not the first time someone had accused Ortiz of officer misconduct. In fact, he had two other incidents before Bolton and 12 others afterward.
Cease Brutality in the Jail Systems
Cases like these are hard to read but with stronger-minded officers and stricter rules regarding officer misconduct, we may cease brutality in the jail systems. As Chicago and other cities around the world suffer from this problem, we can only hope to change the system from the inside out.
Written by Takhon Hemingway
Sources:
ABC: Cook County Jail correctional officer seen punching detainee on surveillance video
CBS News: Cook County Sheriff’s correctional officer charged with beating handcuffed inmate; By CBS Chicago Team
DNA Info: Why Did It Take More Than Two Years To Charge Jail Guard In Video Beating?
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Inset Image Courtesy Of Inventorchris’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
