Dallas Morning News

Four wardens have record of inmate abuse
State, private prison officials play down violent incidents

By Christy Hoppe / The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 1997, The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN Four Texas prison officials who were
punished for abusing inmates in the 1980s now serve
as wardens at state or private prisons, state and
federal records show.

Also, David L. Myers, president of Corrections Corp.
of America, was a Texas warden whom court officials
accused of tacitly encouraging his men to assault
inmates for taking a guard hostage.

The prison director at the time exonerated Mr. Myers
of wrongdoing but issued a "letter of instruction"
that underscored Mr. Myers' need to maintain
supervisory control of his officers. Mr. Myers was
unavailable for comment Tuesday, but a CCA
spokeswoman defended its employees.

Seven months after the letter was issued in February
1985, Mr. Myers took a job with CCA in Florida. In
1994, he became president of the company one of
the largest private prison developers in the nation.
CCA operates 44 prison units in the United States,
with 12 in Texas.

Attention has been focused on Texas' treatment of
prisoners after the recent broadcast of videotape
showing inmates being beaten, kicked and bitten by
dogs at a Houstonarea jail operated by a private
company.

That company is not related to CCA. Two of CCA's
wardens in Texas were accused, while employed in the
state prison system, of using excessive force or
supervising others who were beating inmates,
according to reports by federal court monitors from
198285.

The reports were made for U.S. District Judge
William Wayne Justice, who had found the Texas
prison system unconstitutional because of cruel and
unusual punishment.

The reviews were critical of state prison officials
for their reluctance to take strong and timely
disciplinary action against employees found to have
abused inmates.

Susan Hart, CCA's vice president for communications
at the headquarters in Nashville, Tenn., said the
wardens at its private units are qualified and must
meet high work standards.

"We've been very pleased with their performance,"
she said.

She said the facilities they manage have been
accredited by American Correctional Association,
which sets national standards for detention
facilities.

Ms. Hart said she was unaware of the earlier
disciplinary actions taken against CCA personnel but
said they occurred 13 years ago.

"I can't comment on something that happened prior to
their CCA employment," she said.

Two other current state wardens were punished for
abusing inmates while employed by the state prison
system, according to the federal reports.

Wayne Scott, executive director of the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice, said he was aware of
most of the allegations against the wardens.

His two wardens, and those under contract to the
state, were disciplined and have demonstrated
positive changes during the past decade, Mr. Scott
said.

"I think they stared reality in the face and
realized if they didn't change, they weren't going
to be a part of this system," Mr. Scott said.

He recalled that in the 1980s, dozens of prison
employees were fired over abusive acts.

He said that the punishments meted out to these
employees indicate that their infractions were less
severe.

"Corrective action could be taken that would save
their careers, and that was done," he said.

Among the prison guards fired in 1983 were two of
the private jailers involved in alleged abuse of
Missouri inmates at the Brazoria County Detention
Center.

Wilton David Wallace and Daryl French were fired and
pleaded guilty to federal crimes relating to
prisoner abuse.

Mr. Wallace and Mr. French subsequently were hired
by Capital Correctional Resources Inc., which was
contracted by Brazoria County to manage outofstate
inmates.

The four current wardens that the federal reports
said had past problems are:

* Sanders E. Estes, a warden at CCA's Venus

correctional facility for state inmates. While
a captain at the state's Ellis Unit in May
1982, Mr. Estes and an assistant warden
escorted an inmate, who was accused of fatally
stabbing a fellow prisoner, into an office.

Once there, court monitors and internal
investigations found that Mr. Estes and the
other man punched and kicked the inmate. On
April 13, 1984, Mr. Estes was suspended without
pay for 30 days for participating in the
beating.

Mr. Estes, reached Tuesday, said that prisons
were dark places back then and that he had lost
three officers in the line of duty.

"That man was biting, kicking and scratching.
He'd just killed a man," said Mr. Estes, who
joined CCA in 1988.

"Do I feel [the punishment] . . . was
justified? No, I don't. But everyone's a
Mondaymorning quarterback," he said.

* Joe Driskell, a warden at CCA's Liberty County
correctional facility operated for the county.

Mr. Driskell, an assistant warden at the
state's Eastham Unit in September 1983, and
another warden were found to have beaten an
inmate. The men apparently were angry because
the inmate had forged Mr. Driskell's name on a
commissary slip. Mr. Driskell was suspended for
14 days in June 1984. He could not be reached
for comment Tuesday.

* Darwin D. Sanders, warden of the state's
Clements Unit. Mr. Sanders was a captain in
October 1982 when he watched two officers beat
an inmate whose wrists were handcuffed behind
his back, a federal monitor said.

"Capt. Sanders made no effort to stop his
subordinates, took no disciplinary actions
against them, failed to report the fact that
illegal force had been used and falsified a use

of force report concerning the incident," the
monitor reported.

The report said that in February 1984, Mr.
Sanders again failed to prevent officers under
his supervision from using excessive force.

For the two actions, he was placed on probation
for one year and took a cut in salary.

Mr. Sanders was on vacation Tuesday and could
not be reached for comment.

* Herbert Scott, warden of the state's Beto I
unit.

Mr. Scott was a major in July 1984 when he was
reprimanded for slapping an inmate in the face.
He was placed on three months' probation.

"If I recall, that was during an incident where
an inmate, he escaped and spit at me and I hit
him and got him out of my face," Mr. Scott said
Tuesday.

He said he did not consider his reaction
excessive.

"I've done nothing that I'm ashamed of," he
said.

Wayne Scott of the Texas prison system said
that Mr. Sanders and Mr. Scott have proved to
be good employees and that he is comfortable
with their job performance.

"Not everyone goes through their career without
a blemish," he said.

In the incident involving Mr. Myers, inmates at the
Eastham unit had taken a guard prisoner and
barricaded their cellblock in the early morning
hours of Oct. 15, 1984.

Mr. Myers, as warden, amassed 40 guards and led an
assault on the cellblock. One officer reported that
Mr. Myers told them before the assault, "Rush in
there, and I want you to drive on [them]," which he
interpreted to mean that the inmates should be
"whipped," according to the monitor's report.

Noxious gas was used, and officers managed to free
the hostage unharmed. In the aftermath, 14 officers
were found by internal affairs to have used
excessive force, beating subdued and handcuffed
inmates with riot batons.

Because he was not wearing a gas mask, Mr. Myers was
not present to supervise officers or witness their
conduct for at least five minutes after the assault,
the report found.

Mr. Myers was later cleared of any violations by
thenprison director Ray Procunier but was issued a
letter regarding his failure to instruct officers
properly and supervise the postassault operation.

© 1997 The Dallas Morning News