Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - McConnell Unit supervisors found responsible for prison attack

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Friday, May 25, 2001
McConnell Unit supervisors found responsible for prison attack
Inmate Ciro Cid Adames was stabbed by another inmate who had escaped from his cell
By Jeremy Schwartz
Caller-Times
   A Corpus Christi federal jury this week held three McConnell Unit supervisors responsible for a 1997 attack during which an inmate was stabbed about a dozen times by another inmate who'd escaped from his locked cell.
   The jury assessed $70,000 in combined punitive damages against three officials, including the former warden and assistant warden at the state prison unit in Beeville, said Joseph Barrientos, attorney for inmate Ciro Cid Adames. Two correctional officers named in the lawsuit were not found liable.
   During the three-day trial, lawyers for Adames argued that serious problems existed in the cell doors at the McConnell Unit and that prison officials knew that inmates were able to open them, but did nothing.
   "The allegation is they knew they could be jimmied from the inside," said Adames' attorney Mikal Watts. "They had emails, reports that predated the incident and they haven't done anything about it."
   Prison system spokesman Larry Todd said it would be up to lawyers with the Attorney General's office to decide if the jury's judgment would be appealed.
   "We strive to make prisons safe for officers as well as inmates," Todd said. "When we do know of a cell door or locking mechanism that has been has a problem from being worn, or tampered with or abused, we try to repair or replace it."
   The doors at the McConnell Unit also came under criticism after a 1999 riot there in which an inmate escaped from his locked cell, walked through an unlocked gate, overpowered a pair of guards and took over the control room.
   He then released 83 inmates from their cells, who were subdued and returned to their cells after mace-like chemicals were pumped into the air conditioning vents.
   The Adames incident also occurred in the administrative segregation unit at the McConnell Unit, a place where the prison's most dangerous inmates are housed and spend 23 hours a day locked in their cells.
   According to testimony, a guard was leading Adames in handcuffs to his cell from the shower when another inmate escaped from his cell and rushed Adames.
   Adames ran to his cell, where another officer was opening the door. According to defense attorneys, Adames, a former Texas Syndicate prison gang member, used the officer as a human shield. As the two inmates ran in circles around the officer, Adames was stabbed nine to 13 times, receiving non-life-threatening wounds.
   Watts argued prison officials didn't do enough to protect Adames. He claimed officials might have set Adames up for the attack after he told them that a guard was bringing drugs into the unit for the Texas Syndicate, one of the prison system's most notorious gangs. Officials might have intentionally leaked that information to Texas Syndicate members, Watts said.
   Carlos Lopez, assistant attorney general, argued that the incident resulted from Adames being labeled a snitch by his fellow gang members, who voted to have him attacked after his indiscretion. The falling out among gang members began when Adames refused to give a stamp to a gang leader, Lopez said.
   Lopez denied that prison officials leaked any information to inmates.
   Adames, who is serving out his life sentence at another Texas prison, directed his lawsuit until Watts and Baronets were appointed late last year. He said he would donate the proceeds from the verdict to charity.
   Also Thursday, prison system officials settled another case involving a McConnell Unit inmate who was attacked while in prison. Details of the settlement were not available.
   In that case, Craig E. Mendenhall accused an unknown officer of letting three gang members into his cell who beat him severely and stole his watch. Mendenhall accused officials of running an understaffed prison that allowed the attack on him and not listening to his claims that black gang members were targeting him.

Contact Jeremy Schwartz at 886-3779 or schwartzj@caller.com

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