GULFPORT -- Just when it seemed prosecution in the civil rights case of jailhouse abuse was ending, loose ends emerged from unexpected testimony in federal court.
It implicates key officials in the Harrison County Sheriff's Department, showing they knew an officer broke an inmate's jaw in the jail shower room in August 2005 and ignored it. The incident was six months before the fatal inmate beating that started an investigation in February 2006.
Questions have lingered since Jessie Lee Williams Jr. was tortured with fists, feet and nearly every tool of the corrections trade while strapped in a restraint chair. Before his attack, who in charge knew of the rogue acts of violence under color of law? Why didn't they stop it? And will they be charged?
One thing is clear - as last week's surprise testimony indicates - the investigation didn't end with the sentencings of nine former jailers, eight of whom are going to prison along with the one convicted of Williams' murder.
"The investigation continues," said District Attorney Cono Caranna.
The loose ends bring to full circle earlier reports by the Sun Herald and raises names of jail officials, some of whom denied wrongdoing by jailers after Williams' death. The latest developments in court may show then-warden Diane Gatson-Riley and Capt. Steve Campbell, who ran the sheriff's professional standards unit, knew about the broken-jaw incident.
Jail security reports obtained by the Sun Herald confirm it's another officer-involved incident the jail failed to report in court-ordered quarterly reports to the U.S. Justice Department. The reports list no officer-inmate assault that month.
The surprise testimony came Tuesday as ex-jailer Brodrick Fulton, 26, testified about the August 2005 incident, hoping U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. would grant him leniency.
An inmate Fulton struck, identified in court only as L.M., was arrested on a public drunk charge and suspicion of drug possession. The detainee was naked while Fulton performed a cavity search to make sure no drugs were hidden. Fulton said the inmate jumped up suddenly and called him a racial slur and the jailer claimed he "spontaneously" struck him "with an open hand."
Fulton testified he wrote a report and gave it to Campbell. He said he waited for Campbell to get back with him. Campbell was in charge of internal affairs, which investigates officer-involved complaints.
"(Campbell) said not to worry about it," said Fulton, who resigned a few months later.
The lead investigator in the federal case, Special Agent Joel Wallace of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, said he found no such report.
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