Cowlitz officers investigating jail incident

Wahkiakum County officials have called in officers from Cowlitz County's sheriff's office to investigate an alleged case of abuse of a prisoner in the Wahkiakum County Jail

Skamokawa resident Sharyl Hjaltalin has claimed that officers repeatedly beat her son, Sigrin Hjaltalin, on July 16, injuring him so bad that he needed medical attention.

Hjaltalin, who is 24 years old and a muscular man of 240 lbs., has been in jail awaiting trial on charges of assault, possession of methamphetamine, and tampering with a witness. He pled guilty Monday and was sentenced to 51 months in prison.

"All hell broke out over having to use the toilet," Sharyl Hjaltalin said. "There was no violent nature in this situation on the inmate's side. Discipline was given for not obeying orders."

Officers first grabbed Hjaltalin and sprayed him with Mace and returned him to his cell, she said. They came back 25 minutes later and emptied an air gun at him as he sat cuffed on his bed, and 35 minutes later, they returned, held him down, and struck him with a baton before carrying him out of view of a surveillance monitoring camera and issuing more punishment.

"It is okay to use excessive force to maintain and restore discipline," Sharyl Hjaltalin said. "It is not okay if force was applied maliciously and sadistically to cause harm."

She added that her son sustained injuries to his arm and torso but wasn't taken to a doctor for treatment for several days.

Sharyl Hjaltalin eventually reported her allegations to the county prosecuting attorney's office, and local officials decided to bring in an outside investigator.

Just back from a month-long vacation, Wahkiakum County Sheriff Dan Bardsley said Monday he believes the outside investigators will find the corrections officers used levels of force necessary to control the situation.

"I can't get into real specifics about what occurred," Bardsley said. "It was all one incident. We never got compliance to our commands or the following of orders. That never occurred.

"It was an escalation of force; several things occurred before we got to putting hands on him.

"When it occurred, I read all the reports and our policies on use of force. I viewed the surveillance video. I came to the conclusion that our personnel had followed policy."

Corrections officers are trained to follow a continum to deal with uncooperative or combative inmates. Their goal is to get inmates to follow orders. Their physical response increases according to the inmate's actions; striking techniques are used when an inmate is ready to attack with intent to injure officers or other people.

"As time went on, there were questions about how could I allow someone to be beaten so unmercifully in our jail; it was suggested that we send it out, and that's what we did," Bardsley said. "I'm looking forward to their report. I want to know what we did right or wrong."

Bardsley added that in his 30-year career, it has been very rare for corrections officers to have to use physical force on a prisoner. Usually, it's with someone who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

"At this level, it just doesn't happen," he said.