Inmate Sat In Feces At Lap Dance Prison

Arkansas Prisoner Nearly Died After Left Naked In Cell; Report: Guards Got Lap Dances On Job

(AP)  An Arkansas prisoner nearly died after guards left him lying naked in his own feces for a weekend, and while investigating the incident corrections officials found that guards received lap dances while on the job, documents obtained by The Associated Press show.

The prison system fired Lt. John Glasscock, who supervised guards on duty at the maximum-security Tucker Unit prison. One sergeant was fired, another was demoted and three others received written warnings, according to a report stamped "Sustained (Allegation is True)." The report said Glasscock gave false information to investigators and did substandard work "resulting in injury and/or property damage."

The disclosure of the inmate's near death comes after two convicted murderers escaped a different state prison by wearing guard uniforms and officers at the Tucker Unit fatally shot a man who officials said fled from a contraband checkpoint.

Combined, the incidents raise new questions about a troubled state prison system described by a federal judge 40 years ago as a "dark and evil world."

Prisons spokeswoman Dina Tyler described the inmate's near death as unprecedented. "I think what you've got here is a case of a couple of officers who were not doing their jobs up to their standards and we took appropriate action," Tyler said Monday.

The internal affairs report, obtained by the AP through a state Freedom of Information Act request, said guards discovered the inmate Jan. 19 after he had smeared waste over his body and played with it.

James Gibson, an internal affairs investigator for the state prison system, wrote in the report that no one on the night or day shifts did anything to clean up the inmate, whose name was redacted, or his cell.

"In fact, food trays were put in there on the bars for him to eat," Gibson wrote.

By Feb. 10, the inmate was on life support at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital in Little Rock after suffering through septicemia and septic shock, conditions which send virulent microorganisms from an infection into the blood stream, the report shows.

Warden David White fired another sergeant involved, Bobby Lunsford, on Feb. 11. The sergeant told investigators he informed another supervisor about the inmate, but that person wasn't working at the time Lunsford was there, the report shows. A telephone number for Lunsford could not be found Monday, and Gibson wrote in his report that Lunsford did not return messages left for him on a cellular phone.

By Feb. 20, an unnamed sergeant told investigators that Glasscock spent "hours" with female officers in a prison office and that a nurse performed a nighttime lap dance on Glasscock within the sight of several inmates, according to the report. That sergeant also apparently received a lap dance.

The report also claimed a sergeant told investigators that inmates would be brought in to cook for the night shift officers.

Glasscock denied the allegations against him, though he acknowledged he "messed up" by not doing rounds at the facility, the report shows.

Records show Glasscock joined the prison system as a guard in November 1996, and never was demoted or had a disciplinary infraction previously, officials said. A telephone number listed in Glasscock's name rang unanswered Monday.

The maximum-security unit at Tucker, 30 miles southeast of Little Rock, has 532 inmates. About 100 serve as workers and live in a barrack-style dormitory, said Tyler, the prison spokeswoman.

The inmate who was hospitalized is now at the prison system's Diagnostic Unit in Pine Bluff. Tyler said he had violated prison rules several times, including a few violent incidents.

The Arkansas prison system, now nationally accredited, has a troubled past. It was declared unconstitutional four decades ago by U.S. District Judge J. Smith Henley. Back then, trusted inmates would be armed and police other incarcerated inmates. State police reports documented inmates living under brutal conditions.

In 2007, officials fired guards at the East Arkansas Regional Unit at Brickeys for using excessive force against inmates. In May, convicted murderers Calvin Adams and Jeffrey Grinder escaped the Cummins Unit wearing guard uniforms made at the prison. Police caught them in upstate New York, where officers found them with badges that looked like staff identification.

And last Saturday, a guard at Tucker fatally shot a Heber Springs man wanted for failing to report to his parole officer. Tyler said at the time the man crashed his car into the assistant warden's car and came "very close to the officers" before being shot.

Tyler said the department constantly trains its staff and cautioned against making connections between "three totally unrelated incidents."

Lawmakers have scheduled a meeting with prison director Larry Norris in the coming weeks to discuss the recent prison escape. Matt DeCample, a spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe, said the governor continued to support Norris' work at the department.

"When things have gone wrong, action has been taken and that's very important to us," DeCample said. "If things were going wrong and no one seemed to be taking no action to fix it, that's where we'd be greatly concerned."

[parisdakar]

LOL You couldn't make stuff like this up if you tried. Lapdance. Feces. Glasscock? People are crazy.

[citizenusa-2009]

You can't get septicemia from eating feces or playing in it. We only know what the "prison guards" who are in trouble are saying in defense of their negligence--but the fact is--eating poop will not give a person septicemia--neither will getting poop in a cut--unless that cut is left untended for several weeks. In order for a person to almost die of or get septicemia, they have to have their bowels RUPTURED inside of them. The sort of thing that happens when one is kicked repeatedly in their intestines and kidneys, or when one's appendix bursts.

In order to end up with feces all over him, it is a good indication that his intestines had ruptured due to beatings and he was uncontrollably crapping himself. NOT something anyone can do to themselves. To all the stupid comments about the person playing with his own feces--the fact is--why would you EVER believe liars and people who are in trouble for doing their job--you really think the man was just playing in his own feces? He was beat, left to lie in his own crapppp and then food was thrown in, he may even have been smeared with his own feces by the same people who beat him--once a person is involved in something like this (meaning the guards) you cannot take their version of events for the truth. Where were the cameras--conveniently not working at the time?

The above comments were written by a blogger with a BRAIN and it's worth repeating. He is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT in his assertion that you CANNOT get septicemia unless your bowels have been injured to the point where you cannot control your yourself. I DO feel sorry for the VICTIM. The guards had a field day with this poor soul and LIED to cover it up. PIGS!!!!

[toldyouso29]

by hungry1968-15 June 23, 2009 6:42 AM PDT
If the inmate smeared himself with feces and was playing with it, then WHY should the guards have put their lives on the line, to "clean the inmate up"?
______

You can't get septicemia from eating feces or playing in it. We only know what the "prison guards" who are in trouble are saying in defense of their negligence--but the fact is--eating poop will not give a person septicemia--neither will getting poop in a cut--unless that cut is left untended for several weeks. In order for a person to almost die of or get septicemia, they have to have their bowels RUPTURED inside of them. The sort of thing that happens when one is kicked repeatedly in their intestines and kidneys, or when one's appendix bursts.

In order to end up with feces all over him, it is a good indication that his intestines had ruptured due to beatings and he was uncontrollably crapping himself. NOT something anyone can do to themselves. To all the stupid comments about the person playing with his own feces--the fact is--why would you EVER believe liars and people who are in trouble for doing their job--you really think the man was just playing in his own feces? He was beat, left to lie in his own crapppp and then food was thrown in, he may even have been smeared with his own feces by the same people who beat him--once a person is involved in something like this (meaning the guards) you cannot take their version of events for the truth. Where were the cameras--conveniently not working at the time?

[toldyouso29]

"The prison system fired Lt. John Glasscock, ..." They never should have hired anyone with such a last name--there was bound to be morale problems from a person with the name of "glasscock" --the man would be bound to either exploit his own name or decry it--either way, something with a c.oc,k" in the title was going to be unleashed on the prison......LOL

[wasrinrime]

This kind of behavior happens in hursing homes around the county to patients that have never did anything wrong to anyone - and no one does a damn thing about that!!! Should the guards be getting lap dances while on duty - well of course not - fire them.

[dragyn30]

I have a hard time feeling sorry for any of them!

First the inmate who basically did the deed to himself, so he deserved to set for a while. I would have hosed his butt down with a fire hose then threw in clean dry clothes for him with a warning if he does it again he'll stay that way! This guy was in prison for a reason!

The guards deserve the punishment they got because they were negligent and lap dances while at work are NEVER okay!!! After work do anything you want, on the tax payers dime DO YOUR JOB!!!

[sdemaggie]

Just another reason to leave the south. What a bunch backward F@@@ks!

[gravyboat3000]

by hungry1968-15 June 23, 2009 6:42 AM PDT
If the inmate smeared himself with feces and was playing with it, then WHY should the guards have put their lives on the line, to "clean the inmate up"?
______

Believe it or not, that's part of their job.

[erasmus111]

by NEWCO123 June 23, 2009 7:32 AM PDT

....or is that OK because it's ALWAYS the man's fault?



So what are you saying? That nothing is EVER the man's fault?

[sioux4life1]

Classcock? Lap Dances....Sorry but can't keep a straight face on this one :-D

[johninpennsyl]

Its a CO's job to keep inmates from dying or killing themselves while in custody.Thats what they get paid for.
As for the rest of the story-a man named GlassCock getting lap dances from the nurse-well,you just can't make that stuff up.

[credibility2]

There seems to be a lot of detail missing on the overall mental and emotional state of this inmate. Also, why reference the food trays being left on the bars, unless it begs the question why the inmate didn't use it as a receptacle. And why would any sane person continue to sit in their own feces? Sounds to me like the inmate was in need of being placed in a mental institution for observation and confinement.

[1notrub11]

This is news?

[hungry1968-15]

If the inmate smeared himself with feces and was playing with it, then WHY should the guards have put their lives on the line, to "clean the inmate up"?

[Samuel-HiLL]

Because it is their JOB you moron.

[mjvwsr]

seems to me that that's why we have fire hoses

[Illuminated1]

What kind of moronic asinine statment is that?
The prison should be shut down, the guards should have been arrested for human rights abuses, these guys run a prison not a brothel.
Didn't you read the article? A judge had declared the prison unconstitutional long ago, yet it seems the oversight was ignored.
I'm not saying the prisoners are innocent though, but it is the duty of the prison officials to keep a clean and orderly prison without criminal activity such as the guards there are guilty of.