Inmates in Scott County toss food, upset jail

BENTON, Mo. -- A few inmates at the Scott County Jail didn't get what they wanted for Christmas and decided to throw a fit, reported the Scott County Sheriff's Department.

Shortly after noon on Wednesday, inmates were served a Christmas dinner of turkey and traditional side dishes, said Capt. Jim Chambers. After eating most of their meal, four inmates began throwing food on the walls, slamming doors and setting rolls of toilet paper on fire. Their behavior incited others to begin throwing food scraps too.

"It was Christmas, and they wanted some attention," Chambers said. "I guess they thought with it being a holiday we'd do a little more for them."

But it wasn't the meal that upset the inmates, he said. When jail staff went to investigate the ruckus, the inmates demanded to make phone calls, and some wanted out of their cells to walk in the jail's common areas. They expected additional special holiday treatment, Chambers said.

Jailers believe prisoners are treated decently all the time. Visiting hours at the jail are on Saturdays from 2 to 4 p.m., and free postage, paper, envelopes and pencils are available to inmates on a daily basis, he said.

"They have contact with their families," Chambers said. "They're not being denied anything."

Five off-duty officers, including Sheriff Bill Ferrell, were contacted and came to the jail to assist the two officers and one dispatcher on duty Christmas Day.

Some inmates wrapped their faces in towels to protect themselves from being sprayed with Mace. However, two others were sprayed by deputies. No one threw any punches, Chambers said.

A couple of inmates used matches to set fire to toilet paper and tossed the rolls into the hallway outside their cells, Chambers said. No damage resulted, other than scorched floor tiles.

Inmates are allowed to smoke in the Scott County Jail. But that is all about to change. When the new jail begins operations in February, it will be a smoke-free facility.

The names of the four inmates who refused to return to their cells and set the fires were not released since no charges had been filed.

"We took those four troublemakers and isolated them in one cell," Chambers said. "These guys have been in here the longest. Their frustrations build up, and it comes to a head to where they forget whose house they're in."

The four men are in custody on numerous serious felony charges, including murder, armed criminal action, kidnapping, burglary, forcible rape and drug trafficking.

The situation was handled without injury to inmates. One deputy cut his finger with a pocket knife when trying to cut down a plastic trash bag from the bars of a cell. The injury was not caused by an inmate, Chambers said.

Safer environment

In a news release issued on Thursday, Ferrell said he hopes the new jail will create a safer environment for staffers and inmates.

Chambers agreed the new jail will be generally safer because staffers will segregate inmates into categories based on security risks. However, there may be different concerns because the new jail has more wide-open spaces, possibly making it harder for officers to corner a disruptive inmate, he said.

Inmate unruliness is not uncommon and is usually extinguished easily with a few choice words, Chambers said. But when several inmates acted up at the same time, jail staff had to react with force.

"The bottom line is we had limited staff on duty, and we had to call in five additional staff members to clean up the problem," he said.

Ferrell hopes to hire 15 to 18 additional people to staff the new jail, which could increase the number of persons on a shift by three or more.

But it was not jailers who cleaned up the Christmas mess made by the angry inmates. The cleanup was left for the inmate trustees, who had spent the earlier half of the day cooking the meal.

"With the food and tea all over the floor, it was slicker than snot," Chambers said. "It was like walking on ice."

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160