Posted on Mon, Jan. 21, 2008
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Former jailer finds punishment unfair
Wills will serve more than 3 years
By ROBIN FITZGERALD
rfitzgerald@sunherald.com
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Wills said he feels betrayed by federal prosecutors and the Department of Justice, which has monitored jail conditions since 1995.
"When I was called in, I asked if I was a suspect. They said 'no,' so I answered all their questions. I cooperated. I made copies of every report and narrative I ever wrote and turned it over to them."
"Then they threatened to put me in prison for many years if I didn't plead guilty to whatever they said I did. I've got a child. I decided to do it and get it over with."
The reading of his plea agreement in court listed no specific incident of inmate abuse.
Ex-jailer Regina Rhodes, the first to accept a plea bargain, helped former Sgt. Ryan Teel assault Jessie Williams in an unprovoked attack. Surveillance tapes showed the assault continued while Williams was cuffed and strapped in a restraint chair.
"What Ryan Teel and Regina Rhodes did to Jessie Williams was clear-cut wrong, and some of the others, too. But I never initiated a physical altercation with an inmate," Wills said.
"If somebody wanted to fight me, I'd tell him, 'you've picked the right guy.' Some of them would come in the booking room drunk or drugged up and wanting to fight. That's what made booking so different from the cell blocks."
In November, U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. sentenced Teel to two life terms plus 20 years. He sentenced Rhodes to 18 months and gave Thompson 48 months. The judge gave Wills 41 months, the second longest term among those with plea bargains.
Federal prosecutors John Cotton Richmond and Lisa Krigsten have said that officers who witnessed excessive or unjustified force or other violations of civil rights and failed to report it are just as guilty.
Wills said he was surprised when federal prosecutors told him that some common practices in the jail were violations of civil rights, including acts that intimidate, threaten or oppress.
"How am I supposed to know I'm doing wrong unless somebody comes and tells me it's wrong?" he asked. "I'm going to take it like a man, but I don't believe I deserve this."
At sentencing, prosecutors said Wills wasn't a viable witness. They did not call him to testify at the trial of Teel and former Capt. Rick Gaston last August.
Wills said Teel was "out of control," but said he enjoyed working for Gaston, who was found not guilty. Gaston was in charge of booking.
U.S. Probation and Parole officers and prosecutors disagreed on the amount of leniency Wills should receive. Prosecutors wanted less leniency for Wills. He received the second longest prison term of those with plea bargains, including some who admitted they broke an inmate's jaw or knocked out an inmate's tooth.
