Estelle Richardson died in county jail cell of head injury

By CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF
and IAN DEMSKY
Staff Writer


Four Metro Detention Facility guards were arrested this week and charged with killing a female prisoner, who died of a massive head injury in her solitary confinement cell last year, Metro police said yesterday.

Guards Keith Andre Hendricks, 35; William Wood, 26; Jeremy Neese, 24; and Joshua D. Schockman, 23, are employees of Corrections Corporation of America, a Nashville firm that contracts with Metro government to run the county lockup.




All four were indicted by a Davidson County grand jury on felony counts of reckless homicide and aggravated as-sault in the July 2004 death of 34-year-old prisoner Estelle Richardson.

All of the officers have been released on $25,000 bond.

Richardson's brother, Ty-rone Gibson, said the family was relieved by the criminal charges, because some relatives had become pessimistic that justice would be done.

"I think it's a beginning of a long conclusion," Gibson said. "I think anyone who has been involved has already had a foregone conclusion that these four men have to face justice here. And the family of my sister, who has been dead over a year now, will eventually have some closure."

Lawyers for the officers said their clients were innocent and vowed to mount a strong defense.

CCA officials yesterday de-clined to comment on the arrests of their employees but said the four guards remained on the company payroll on administrative leave.

"Although CCA has conducted its own investigation into the allegations of the indictments, it believes that it would be inappropriate to comment on this prosecution," according to a company statement.

Richardson had been serving a six-year sentence for a probation violation after pleading guilty to trying to buy addictive Lortab tablets while her children were with her.

CCA officials and other authorities have refused to give details of the events leading up to her death, but in an interview last year, Wood said the guards used pepper spray during a struggle to handcuff Richardson, who, he said, had refused to exit her cell. He denied that any of the officers struck her or used any force that would have caused injuries.

Wood said Richardson was taken to a recreation area and appeared fine. She was found unresponsive in her cell the next morning and rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Shortly after the death, Metro Medical Examiner Bruce Levy determined that Richardson died from a blunt-force injury to the head and ruled the case a homicide.

The woman's skull was cracked, four ribs were broken and her liver was damaged, an autopsy found.

The injuries indicate that Richardson probably suffered a massive blow, such as being slammed into a wall, Levy said in an interview. He said it was not possible that her injuries were an accident or self-inflicted.

Nashville attorney Blair Durham, who is representing Richardson's relatives, said the victim's family had begun to lose hope that someone would be held responsible for the death.

"At least from the family's purview, they feel like someone has at least taken the allegation seriously," Durham said. "They had expressed some frustration for something like this to take so long for something to happen."

A $60 million civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of Richardson's daughter Saviyance Beck, 15, and son, Savion Richardson, 7, claims that Richardson suffered a "savage beating" death caused by the guards. The suit names CCA, the guards and four supervisors as defendants.

Richardson's children are living with a relative in Lansing, Mich., her brother said.

Lawyers for the guards said yesterday that their clients would be vindicated.

"What I can tell you is that this is a case of actual innocence," said Paul J. Bruno, who is representing Neese. "I've been investigating this case for a while and I'm very familiar with the facts of it. I'm hesitant to say too much; you don't want to try the case through the newspaper and you don't want to show your hand to the prosecution."

Attorney Jim Price represents Schockman.

"The only thing I can say on this is that we were surprised by the arrest," he said. "Mr. Schockman maintains his innocence and we'll enter a plea of not guilty. We expect the jury will vindicate him."

Wood is represented by attorney Vince Wehby.

"We don't feel there's any credible evidence on which the charges were made," he said. "It's been out there for 15 months — we don't know what prompted this, but now that it's in court we'll respond accordingly."

An attorney for Hendricks did not return a call seeking comment.

Metro police officials said their investigation was completed within weeks of Richardson's death and turned over to the district attorney general's office last fall.

"Both Metro and federal law enforcement agencies looked at this case, and it was decided prosecution would occur at the state level," police spokesman Don Aaron said. "The reviews, I suspect, took some time."

The federal investigation ended in the spring, Metro Assistant District Attorney General Rob McGuire said.

"Once we got the case back, we looked at it with a fresh set of eyes," he said. The case was turned over to a grand jury, which handed up indictments last week.

Neese was arrested Monday at his home. Hendricks and Schockman turned themselves in at police headquarters downtown Tuesday. Wood turned himself in Wednesday.

CCA officials would not say how long the officers, who each earn between $25,312 and $27,304 a year, will remain on the payroll.

For people who have no prior felony convictions, reckless homicide carries a maximum sentence of four years; aggravated assault carries a maximum of six years.

If the officers were convicted of both charges, the state would choose which of the two the guards would be sentenced under.

Well she must have done something pretty bad to get solitary confinement in county.

This article has no facts of the case whatsoever.

What facts would justify four men bashing in the skull of a prisoner?

As soon as the prisoner is unruly and puts a guard in a position where they are not in control for starters.

FACTS WHO NEEDS 'EM Here are some prior articles:

Inmate found dead had many fights, records say

An inmate who was found dead at the Metro Detention Facility on July 5 had several fights with other inmates there, according to records from the private company that runs the jail.

Estelle Richardson, who is listed in prison records as mentally deficient and psychologically impaired, had been segregated from other inmates at the facility from April until her death. A review board kept her there week after week after a series of fights and other misdeeds, according to prison records and interviews with officials from Corrections Corporation of America.

The incidents include:

• She got into a fight with another inmate on March 30.

The other inmate said Richardson was letting items fall from her bed into the other inmate's space, according to incident reports. The inmate said she was attacked by Richardson when the inmate tried to work out the two women's problems.

In a statement, Richardson said she wasn't responsible. ''She told me not to let stuff from my bunk,'' Richardson wrote. ''I told her OK. Then I told her to leave me alone. She kept on messing with me, and I continued telling her to leave me alone. She said she would kick my (behind) and that she wasn't scared of me. I got off my bunk and she got up in my face and pushed my head with her finger. Then we started fighting.''

Inmates who saw the fight blamed Richardson for attacking the other inmate, according to documents from CCA.

• On April 5, Richardson was involved in a physical altercation with another inmate. The other woman said Richardson banged the woman's head against a wall. When a correctional officer sounded an alert, Richardson ''dropped to the floor and started shaking in what appeared to be a seizure,'' one guard wrote. Jail medical staff were summoned to treat her.

• In April, Richardson ripped off the head of a sprinkler in her cell, causing her cell and its ''pod'' to flood, according to reports. A disciplinary hearing ended with Richardson being recommended to pay about $3,000 restitution.

• On June 29, several days before her death, Richardson said to a correctional officer, ''Can you get the nurse down here? I am hurting, and if you don't get the nurse down here I am going to die,'' according to a report filed by the officer, Capt. Linda Hambrick.

Richardson had been sitting on her bunk in her cell. Hambrick left to ask a nurse to help, the officer wrote. The one-page report, filed July 14, several days after Richardson's death, does not say what happened after that.

Estelle Richardson

Age: 34

Died: July 5 at the Metro Detention Facility in Antioch, which is run by CCA

Charges: She was held after she was arrested March 11 after being indicted on charges of food stamp fraud and three counts of probation violation.

Circumstances of death: The Metro medical examiner ruled Richardson's death a homicide.

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archive ... 3195.shtml

Jail officers in death investigation put on leave

By CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF
Staff Writer


Four correctional officers employed by a private firm are now on administrative leave as Metro police investigate the death of a female inmate found Monday in her cell with a fatal skull fracture. The officers are all men.

The death of inmate Estelle Richardson, 34, at the Metro Detention Facility on Harding Place is being investigated as a homicide, police said. The facility is operated by jail-management company Corrections Corporation of America.

Louise Chickering, CCA spokeswoman, said the officers were placed on leave immediately after Metro homicide detectives started their investigation. She declined to release the officers' names.

It was not known last night if the leave was paid or unpaid.

For now, the officers are not working at the facility, Chickering said. Richardson was found about 6 a.m. Monday in her cell. An autopsy determined that Richardson had internal injuries as well as a skull fracture caused by ''blunt trauma,'' Metro police said.

Chickering said that placing the officers on administrative leave was a routine matter, adding that it was ''out of respect for the investigation … and to ensure that the investigation is thorough.''

''Certainly, we continue to cooperate to the very best of our ability to help them in their investigation.''

Many questions remain about Richardson's death.

Don Aaron, Metro police spokesman, said that police could not say whether any calls for help were made by Richardson or other inmates from inside the facility. That information is a crucial part of the investigation, Aaron said.

Aaron said an initial call for help came to the 911 Center at 5:37 a.m. Monday, reporting ''that a female inmate was on the floor and needed medical assistance.''

Investigators also are looking into some sort of incident that occurred in Richardson's cell on Sunday morning involving a guard or guards, Aaron said. Police have not released details of that incident. Richardson was the only inmate in the cell at the time, police have said.

Aaron said that interviews of inmates and staff at the facility continue.

Richardson was arrested March 11. She was booked on a grand jury indictment charging food stamp fraud and three counts of probation violation.

CCA is the largest private operator of prisons, jails and detention facilities, operating 59 facilities across 20 states and the District of Columbia.

CCA manages the jail facility under contract for the Davidson County Sheriff's Department.

Karla Crocker, spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Department, said the death appears to be an isolated incident at the CCA facility. ''We have not seen a pattern of problems with them,'' Crocker said.

Since 2000, there have been nine inmate deaths from natural causes at the facility. A separate death was an accident: a female inmate was hit by a train during work release. A final death was from a medication overdose, Chickering said.

Information was not available for deaths in the years before 2000, Chickering said.

Four trained officers can't control one woman alone in a cell? I've seen less officers contain big-ass, ranting mother-fuckers. If those officers aren't guilty of killing her, I'd fire them anyhow for incompetence.

How do 4 officers fit in one county jail cell?

Have you ever met a county police officer?

Seriously, I've seen it happen. It ain't a pretty sight. Even if it was done correctly, the potential is there to crack a skull.

I get the feeling she didn't want to go quietly.

I can't imagine the cops have run into that problem before.

Hmm, sounds like a perfect example where a taser would have been useful.

oh, thats kinda a bad subject in Nashville right now also......

I doubt the prisoner was on LSD