A former Ann Arbor, Michigan jail inmate filed a federal lawsuit alleging he was forced to perform a sex act on a correctional officer and didn’t receive timely medical care.Larry Deshawn Lee, 32, also accused jail officials of not properly addressing his complaints. He's suing the county, former sheriff Daniel Minzey, SecureCare Inc., which provides health care to the jail’s inmates, and 14 other people. The suit seeks an unspecified amount of money.The suit also asks the court to order the jail to implement a program ensuring officials adequately respond to inmates’ complaints about physical threats, health needs and harassment.“He’s got a strong interest in making sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else ever again,” said attorney David Santacroce, a University of Michigan Law School professor who is representing Lee.Several of Santacroce’s students in the school’s Michigan Clinical Law Program are assisting, he said.The county has not yet filed its response to Lee's amended complaint. Attorney Cynthia Reach, who is representing the county and jail employees, did not return a phone call seeking comment. Santacroce said Lee continues to struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, which the suit claims was brought on by “attacks and abuse” at the jail.“The evidence we have thus far suggests this isn’t an isolated incident regarding the harassing and oppressive environment,” Santacroce said.An amended complaint was filed last Friday after Lee requested the court appoint an attorney for him.Lee was representing himself when he filed a 47-page suit June 23 while incarcerated at Florence Crane Correctional Facility in Coldwater.He’s serving between three and 15 years in prison after being convicted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in Washtenaw County, state Department of Corrections records show. He was convicted of preying on drunken male University of Michigan students by sexually assaulting them after they had passed out or fallen asleep in 2006.Lee alleges in the suit he was mistreated almost immediately after being booked at the jail on June 9, 2006, and was subjected to a “degrading and abusive anti-homosexual atmosphere.”According to the suit, jail officials violated Lee’s constitutional rights, turning a “blind-eye” to sexual assaults against him by “a correctional officer and other inmates.”Inmates contaminated his food with “human feces” and “cups of urine,” the suit says, and correctional officers “blamed Mr. Lee’s homosexuality for provoking such horror.”When he asked for help, the suit alleges, he didn’t received it or was punished. Among the most serious allegations is that on Sept. 26, 2006, a male deputy forced Lee to perform oral sex on him.Lee also alleges that on July 10, 2006, a deputy escorted him from the barber to his cell and told him “to walk along the right side of the wall.” Lee turned a corner, the suit says, hit his head on a utility box, fell backward and struck his head on the floor, suffering blurred vision and headaches.Lee was taken to a holding cell, where “he vomited and bled from his ear and nose,” but wasn’t examined by a doctor for three days, according to the suit.Lee also alleges that on July 2, 2006, he complained a deputy was sexually harassing him and was told by another deputy he was “here because (he was) a criminal. Welcome to the Hogback Hilton.”Lee, who attended University of Michigan but didn’t graduate, kept records of the incidents while behind bars, Santacroce said.“He kept remarkable notes, almost, I believe on a daily basis," Santacroce said.Other defendants include correctional officers: Chad Gronda, Ryan McLaughlin, Joseph Fendt, Rick Casey, Richard Williams Jr., Antonio Vaughn, Jill Williams, Richard Williams Sr., and Kurt Schiappacase. Two other officers, referred to as “John Doe” and “Jane Doe," because their names are not known to Lee, also are being sued.Dr. Daryl Parker, who provided medical care at the jail, and Edward Mooreman, whose responsibilities include determining housing assignments, also are named as defendants.Story: Lee Higgins AnnArbor.com.
The Navy has removed Senior Chief Michael Toussaint from active duty and censored him for his role in hazing several sailors, including one on the basis of his homosexuality. The move comes after Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA) raised questions on behalf of the gay veteran, Joseph Rocha. Rocha, now a political science student at USD, said he suffered verbal and physical abuse as he tried to abide by the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding sexual orientation in the military."My dream has always been to graduate from the Naval Academy" said Rocha. But, he also knew he was gay--and that he had to keep that fact under wraps.He headed to Bahrain to work training K-9s.But his superior, Chief Master-at-Arms Michael Toussaint, had his suspicions about Rocha. "Do you think there is anything funny about Rocha?" he would ask. Then, the hazing started. "For whatever reason, without any proof, he decided my hazing would be focused on my sexuality."It included, "being ordered to simulate gay sex on video, finding myself on my knees when I was just trying to serve in the Middle East, coached as to how to have gay sex, all on camera with military dogs around."Rocha didn't know what to do. He was worried that if he reported the abuse, he would have to admit he was gay. "I didn't want to lose my career over it."The abuse continued. Gay porn was saved on his computer and comments were constantly made. "He was indoctrinating new handlers that they would soon meet a gay, ultra liberal service member."But, he wasn't alone in hazing abuse by Toussaint. A Navy report has over 90 complaints. Among them: sailors were "hog-tied...force fed liver dog treats and told to make dog and duck sounds."Navy spokeswoman and Commander Elissa Smith said that Michael Toussaint's enlistment extension has been canceled, which will force him to leave active duty and retire in January 2010. His retirement pay will be reviewed at a hearing.Smith said, "...the incidents were not in keeping with Navy values and standards and violated the Navy's longstanding prohibition against hazing...Our sailors are to be treated with dignity and respect in a healthy and positive working environment."Rocha said he was "surprised" and "proud" of the decision. He is disappointed that Toussaint will not face court marshall, though.Still, he views it as a big development for gay rights."For the first time this has been a national acknowledgment from our military leadership, active duty military leadership, that our service is equal."He continued, "this kind of abuse, and this kind of bigotry and homphobia and hatred does not line up with the core values, neither of our military nor of this country and I think that's the finest thing to take from today."
A former Ann Arbor, Michigan jail inmate filed a federal lawsuit alleging he was forced to perform a sex act on a correctional officer and didn’t receive timely medical care.
Larry Deshawn Lee, 32, also accused jail officials of not properly addressing his complaints. He's suing the county, former sheriff Daniel Minzey, SecureCare Inc., which provides health care to the jail’s inmates, and 14 other people. The suit seeks an unspecified amount of money.
The suit also asks the court to order the jail to implement a program ensuring officials adequately respond to inmates’ complaints about physical threats, health needs and harassment.
“He’s got a strong interest in making sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else ever again,” said attorney David Santacroce, a University of Michigan Law School professor who is representing Lee.
Several of Santacroce’s students in the school’s Michigan Clinical Law Program are assisting, he said.
The county has not yet filed its response to Lee's amended complaint. Attorney Cynthia Reach, who is representing the county and jail employees, did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Santacroce said Lee continues to struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, which the suit claims was brought on by “attacks and abuse” at the jail.
“The evidence we have thus far suggests this isn’t an isolated incident regarding the harassing and oppressive environment,” Santacroce said.
An amended complaint was filed last Friday after Lee requested the court appoint an attorney for him.
Lee was representing himself when he filed a 47-page suit June 23 while incarcerated at Florence Crane Correctional Facility in Coldwater.
He’s serving between three and 15 years in prison after being convicted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in Washtenaw County, state Department of Corrections records show. He was convicted of preying on drunken male University of Michigan students by sexually assaulting them after they had passed out or fallen asleep in 2006.
Lee alleges in the suit he was mistreated almost immediately after being booked at the jail on June 9, 2006, and was subjected to a “degrading and abusive anti-homosexual atmosphere.”
According to the suit, jail officials violated Lee’s constitutional rights, turning a “blind-eye” to sexual assaults against him by “a correctional officer and other inmates.”
Inmates contaminated his food with “human feces” and “cups of urine,” the suit says, and correctional officers “blamed Mr. Lee’s homosexuality for provoking such horror.”
When he asked for help, the suit alleges, he didn’t received it or was punished. Among the most serious allegations is that on Sept. 26, 2006, a male deputy forced Lee to perform oral sex on him.
Lee also alleges that on July 10, 2006, a deputy escorted him from the barber to his cell and told him “to walk along the right side of the wall.” Lee turned a corner, the suit says, hit his head on a utility box, fell backward and struck his head on the floor, suffering blurred vision and headaches.
Lee was taken to a holding cell, where “he vomited and bled from his ear and nose,” but wasn’t examined by a doctor for three days, according to the suit.
Lee also alleges that on July 2, 2006, he complained a deputy was sexually harassing him and was told by another deputy he was “here because (he was) a criminal. Welcome to the Hogback Hilton.”
Lee, who attended University of Michigan but didn’t graduate, kept records of the incidents while behind bars, Santacroce said.
“He kept remarkable notes, almost, I believe on a daily basis," Santacroce said.
Other defendants include correctional officers: Chad Gronda, Ryan McLaughlin, Joseph Fendt, Rick Casey, Richard Williams Jr., Antonio Vaughn, Jill Williams, Richard Williams Sr., and Kurt Schiappacase. Two other officers, referred to as “John Doe” and “Jane Doe," because their names are not known to Lee, also are being sued.
Dr. Daryl Parker, who provided medical care at the jail, and Edward Mooreman, whose responsibilities include determining housing assignments, also are named as defendants.
Story: Lee Higgins AnnArbor.com.
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