FRANKLIN COUNTY
Deputies embroiled in trouble yet againWednesday, March 25, 2009 3:17 AM
By Bruce Cadwallader
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
A report this week that two deputies at the Downtown jail might have tampered with a prisoner's food is the most recent black eye for Franklin County jail guards.
Sheriff Jim Karnes fired four deputies in September for watching a movie on a laptop computer while on duty at the Jackson Pike jail.
He disciplined five others last year for hazing fellow recruits and for sexual harassment. They videotaped recruits dancing in a circle.
Most recently, a 37-year-old deputy who has been on the job seven years and a 26-year-old deputy hired in 2006 are accused of using a cell phone to videotape a prisoner eating a sandwich that the deputies persuaded another prisoner to touch with his penis.
The deputies were working third shift -- 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. -- with about 130 other officers and 13 supervisors.
They have been reassigned to the jail's control center, where they do not have contact with prisoners. Prosecutors are looking into whether a crime has occurred.
The Dispatch is not naming the deputies because they have not been disciplined or charged with a crime.
The older deputy has received three reprimands in his career -- for violating sick-leave policy, lying in a written report and not searching inmates about to enter a transport van. He also got one commendation -- for finding marijuana in a prisoner's cigarette pack.
The younger man has been on military leave in Iraq for several months.
No one in the jail is allowed to have a cell phone, not even deputies, said Patrick F. Garrity, director of personnel and finance for the sheriff.
All Franklin County deputy sheriffs start their careers in the jails and might stay there for up to 10 years before they earn enough seniority to move to the streets. They must seek police-officer certification from the state on their own time if they want to carry a gun and make arrests someday. That policy discourages many considering the career, Garrity said.
After being hired, deputies attend a six-week training course in corrections. Much of that training details the proper handling of prisoners, he said.
"Sometimes, they admit to a particular behavior before the (hiring) exams that kind of kills the deal," Garrity said. An example is poor performance on a previous job. "People fall off rapidly" when it comes to taking a lie-detector test -- a requirement of applicants, he said.
About 700 people have applied for 13 current jobs. Applicants include deputies laid off from other Ohio counties. But even those veterans would start as jail guards, Garrity said.
First-year deputies make nearly $40,000 and get free uniforms and dry cleaning, health benefits and 10 paid holidays each year. After four years, they will be making nearly $70,000 a year, or more if they work at night.
The office has 629 deputies on the payroll, with 416 assigned to jail duty. About 140 per shift supervise 1,965 prisoners each day, as of yesterday's count.
Sometimes, even the best stumble, Karnes said. "We pick the top candidates that go through the process we have."
The contract with the Fraternal Order of Police requires progressive discipline -- for example, a reprimand for most first offenses. The office holds disciplinary hearings for nearly 12 percent of the work force every year, which Garrity considers high. Those 75 to 100 hearings annually are serious enough to involve suspensions and firings, he said.
The state inspects county jails annually for food and health violations but does not look into supervision of jail workers, Garrity said.
Personnel workers everywhere face the same challenges, he said. "You don't know a good one from a bad one. You don't know what's in a person's soul."
bcadwallader@dispatch.com 
