By Nancy West
The Union Leader
MANCHESTER, NH — Federal lawsuits filed by four inmates accuse corrections officers at the state prison in Concord of “maliciously and sadistically” beating them, directing one inmate to throw feces at disfavored inmates, and stealing cases of tuna fish and granola to take home.
The lawsuits, filed by Concord attorney Michael Sheehan, claim senior prison staff was aware of corruption and inmate abuse in the Special Housing Unit, but did nothing to stop it.
The state last Wednesday denied almost all of the allegations against the Department of Corrections and a dozen corrections officers in responses to the lawsuits, filed in U.S. District Court, but asked for more time for outside counsel to respond to some complaints against Jeffrey Bettez.
Bettez, an 11-year veteran corrections officer, was suspended without pay in January, accused by the Department of Corrections of attacking one of the inmates, Michael Saulnier, 25, of Derry, who is now suing in connection with the incident. The attack allegedly occurred during a random cell search in SHU 13 months ago.
SHU houses about 100 inmates who are classified as the highest risk. Those inmates are locked in their cells 23 hours a day and must be handcuffed, shackled and escorted whenever they leave their cells.
Saulnier’s lawsuit says Bettez, who strongly denies all of the allegations, planned the attack on Saulnier. Bettez allegedly punched the prisoner in the face, slammed him to the ground and continued with the assault.
Several minutes later, according to the suit, Bettez ordered an inmate worker to “clean a trail of blood from near (Saulnier’s) cell to the day room, the route (Saulnier) had just traveled moments earlier after the assault,” telling him to do so “before the lieutenant sees it.”
Saulnier’s suit also names three other corrections officers, Stephen Isabelle, Michael Biron and John O’Brien.
Bettez, 43, who is the only officer named in all four lawsuits, said he plans to fight all of the allegations against him and get his job back.
He said he has been involved in more than 100 “extractions,” in which inmates must be forcibly handcuffed and removed from their cells while resisting staff.
“I was the head of that team for four or five years and not once out of all those times was I ever accused of punching, hitting or using unnecessary force against anyone,” Bettez said.
Bettez is backed by Mark Jordan, the corrections officers’ union president, who has also been suspended without pay. Jordan is accused of punching a co-worker in the prison parking lot in March.
Jordan, who is not named in any of the lawsuits, has spoken out publicly, asserting he and Bettez were targeted for firing after he tried to report prison corruption to the Attorney General’s Office.
In its response to Saulnier’s suit, the state says the inmate was being disruptive during the November 2009 incident and kicked another officer in the leg and tried to head butt him, according to documents filed by Senior Assistant Attorney General Nancy Smith, who represents the Department of Corrections.
“This office is defending most of the defendants in the lawsuit,” Smith said in a brief interview. “There will be some outside counsel.”
Smith wouldn’t say whether the state will pay for legal fees and judgments if the suits are successful for all of the corrections officers named in the suits, all of whom remain on the job, except for Bettez.
“We think there are legitimate grounds to defend the lawsuits. There shouldn’t be liability for the state,” Smith said, declining further comment.
Saulnier’s lawsuit also accuses Officer Isabelle of ordering a tier worker to push raw sewage under the door of Saulnier’s and another inmate’s cells during Thanksgiving 2009 flooding, then told him to block it off for several hours with garbage bags filled with water.
The state says other inmates, not Saulnier, had caused the flooding by blocking drains and clogging toilets. The water-filled bags did not block cells, but were placed in certain areas to contain the mess to avoid damaging more state property, Smith wrote.
Besides Saulnier, inmates Scott Ford, Chad Lawlor and Daniel Boothby filed lawsuits alleging they were victims of unprovoked attacks.
Ford, 41, of Portsmouth, who has been moved to a Maine prison, was convicted of theft, escape and robbery, according to Jeffrey Lyons, spokesman for the Department of Corrections.
Lawlor, 36, of Keene, who is in prison for receiving stolen property, forgery and assault on prison staff, is being housed in the residential treatment unit at the Secure Psychiatric Unit, Lyons said.
Boothby, 23, of Charlestown, was sentenced to 1 1/2 to 7 years for second-degree assault, Lyons said.
Ford claims in his lawsuit that he discovered Bettez and other officers were running a scam in 2004 and 2005 in which SHU staff directed the kitchen to send food to the SHU, including cases of tuna fish and granola, then took it home.
Ford’s suit claims he inadvertently disrupted the scheme and was penalized by Bettez and another officer who forced him to walk by the cell of an inmate identified only as BW, who was encouraged to throw urine and feces at inmates the guards wanted to punish.
Bettez and the other officer told Ford that if he pushed the issue about the food thefts, the feces assaults “would happen all the time,” the suit contends.
“‘Trial by BW’ was a means SHU staff used to keep inmates quiet,” Sheehan wrote. BW would be rewarded with extra food trays, the suit says.
Ford was in the SHU in 2009 as an inmate where he witnessed many acts of misconduct by defendants and other staff, and was assaulted at the direction of defendants, Sheehan wrote.
Besides Bettez, O’Brien and Isabelle, Ford’s suit names officers Luca Susca, Brandon Walsh, Randy Inman, William Duffy and two unidentified officers.
Boothby sued officers Bettez, O’Brien, Duffy, Erik Jorgensen and Lee Houston, claiming that on Nov. 7, 2009, he was beaten in a stairwell at the SHU by five officers. The state claims Boothby was resisting that day.
Lawlor, whose lawsuit names Bettez, claims on Dec. 2, 2009, Bettez was escorting him, with his hands handcuffed behind his back, to a mental health visit. He told Bettez: “At least I’m not getting a pink slip,” referring to some prison staff being laid off at the time because of budget cuts.
“Without any justification, Bettez kicked Lawlor 10-15 times,” the suit alleges, adding senior staff at the prison had knowledge of Bettez’ prior history of assaulting inmates.
Union President Jordan said the state isn’t representing Bettez in some matters because it has already accused him of assaulting Saulnier, prompting the officer’s suspension, although he was never criminally charged.
Jordan said he and Bettez were targeted after he tried to report corruption at the prison staff supervisory level to the Attorney General’s Office. Some supervisors were conspiring with inmates to make up false allegations, Jordan said, because they wanted to move all of the SHU officers to other units. “They were working secretly with the inmates behind the scenes to come up with false information. This was the smokescreen to get me and Bettez out,” Jordan said.
The state wanted him fired because he actively represents 400 members as president of Local 250 of the New England Police Benevolent Association, he said.
Bettez said he never used unnecessary force against an inmate and scoffed at the claim that he stole food. He said he wouldn’t risk his family’s livelihood for stolen prison food.
“I wouldn’t feed that tuna fish to my dog. That’s how bad the tuna fish is,” Bettez said.
His family is suffering, Bettez said, because of false allegations. His stepson will be forced to drop out of college next semester because Bettez cannot obtain loans because of his employment status, he said.
“I’m going to see this through and get my job back,” he said.
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