NH- Judge upholds jury ruling, awards more cash to ex-inmates

By RYAN J. HALLIDAY, Telegraph Staff Published: Wednesday, Oct.

3, 2007 More on this Judge Steven McAulife's ruling.

CONCORD – A federal judge has awarded additional money to two former inmates who suffered months of “unconstitutionally harsh conditions” at the Hillsborough County House of Corrections after they were falsely accused of threatening to take a guard hostage.

A federal jury last year awarded $150,000 to Palacio Paladin, of Nashua, and Richard West, of Manchester, after deciding the conditions they endured in solitary confinement were “extreme, egregious and physically harsh.”

In a ruling dated Sept. 28, U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe upheld the jury’s damages and also ordered the inmates be paid an additional $35,199.82 in lawyer’s fees and costs.

Paladin and West spent months in solitary confinement after corrections officer Cesar Rivas accused a mob of inmates of surrounding and threatening him on July 14, 2002.

The inmates accused Rivas of lying about the incident to get them locked up in “the hole,” where they remained for months.

In his ruling, McAuliffe said the jail’s former disciplinary officer Theresa Pendleton violated the inmates’ due process rights and called her investigation into the incident “a complete sham.”

Pendleton ignored evidence contradicting Rivas’ story. To make her case against the inmates she also relied on “exaggerated, if not outright falsified” information she claimed was provided to her by a confidential informant. The informant later testified he could not see the alleged confrontation from his cell, according to the ruling.

Pendleton has been ordered to pay $50,000 in punitive damages to both men, and jail superintendent James O’Mara has been ordered to pay $50,000 in compensatory damages to Paladin for the unconstitutional conditions in “the hole.”

The former inmates were locked in their cells for days at a time with limited access to water. They were only allowed to leave “the hole” for five minutes every three days for a quick shower during which time they were shackled and handcuffed.

In O’Mara’s case, the jury found this official policy – the so-called “three-day rotation” – led to years of “unconstitutionally harsh conditions” at the Hillsborough County jail.

The inmates were not allowed any reading material, lost all their visitation and phone privileges and couldn’t get pencils or paper to file complaints about their treatment.

The inmates had to ask the guards for toilet paper or running water to drink, requests that were often ignored. Despite their lack of contact with others, inmates were strip-searched several times a day, according to the ruling.

McAuliffe wrote the inmates were “confined under conditions that were so extreme, egregious or physically harsh as to fall below the minimum standards of civilized decency and thereby shock the conscience.”

Paladin and West were held under the three-day rotation for about three weeks, and they remained in “the hole” for several more months, this time leaving their cells for an hour each day.

During his confinement, Paladin lost more than 100 pounds and suffered several cuts and other injuries, according to the ruling.

Attempts to reach Elizabeth Hurley and John Curran, the attorneys for the jail officials, for comment Tuesday were not successful.

The attorney for the inmates, Michael Sheehan of Concord, said Tuesday he was “very happy with the ruling.”

Sheehan filed lawsuits on behalf of several other inmates stemming from the same incident.

The first former inmate to file suit, Jason Surprenant, won $20,000 in damages three years ago against Rivas and Pendleton.

The jury in that case found Rivas lied after Surprenant testified the correctional officer made up the whole incident.

In another suit brought by former inmate Antonio King, of Moreno Valley, Calif., a jury also decided Rivas falsely accused the inmates, but awarded King only $1 in nominal damages and $500 in punitive damages.

McAuliffe has ordered a new trial in the King case, saying he had suffered real harm and was entitled to compensation by law.

Three other inmates connected with the incident settled their cases with the county.

Ryan J. Halliday can be reached at 594-5860 or

rhalliday@nashuatelegraph.com.

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071003/NEWS01/71003004/-1/news01