Harassment Unchecked, Sandpoint Inmates Claim Complaint Says Sheriff’s Department Ignoring Racial Attacks
Three Boundary County inmates, including one who is black, filed a complaint against the sheriff’s department Wednesday, saying officers have ignored racially motivated harassment inside the jail.
Lamont Lewis, 32, said a fellow inmate who claims to be a neo-Nazi skinhead threw a cup of human feces on him and his two white cellmates earlier this week.
“We came in from outside and he threw a drinking cup full of (it) out of his cell on me, my two friends and part of it hit a jailer,” Lewis said during a telephone interview. “It was disgusting, and I think people ought to know this kind of stuff is going on.”
The inmate who flung the cup of feces was put in an isolation cell. Lewis said it shouldn’t have taken that type of attack to prompt officers to take action.
“I’ve been hearing racist talk all my life, but this kind of shook me up,” Lewis said. “And for a change I could say something about it because I’m not just another black guy rattling the cage. I have two white guys with me who are complaining too and want to make this known.”
Boundary County Chief Deputy Kevin Hayes said an investigation is under way into complaints made by Lewis and his cellmates Dan South, 32, and Mike South, 21.
“There was some type of racist incident that occurred and we have received a complaint,” Hayes said. “Other than that I can’t comment on it because it is under investigation.”
Lewis said he’s endured racial slurs since he was put in the Boundary County Jail last week on a drug charge. One inmate banged on his window and threatened to kill him, Lewis said. “I reported it to jailers but they said we need to all keep our mouths shut or go to an isolation cell.”
Brothers Mike and Dan South, of Bonners Ferry, are in jail awaiting trial on robbery charges. Mike South said he has endured repeated verbal assaults by the skinhead and several other inmates because his cellmate is black.
“They chant racist stuff, draw swastikas on the wall and do the heil Hitler sign and nobody has done a thing about it,” South said.
South said the taunting has been so bad, he, his brother and Lewis are let outside to exercise at different times than the other inmates.
The sheriff’s department declined to comment.
“This has been an ongoing thing with this one individual and we have done nothing to provoke it,” Lewis said. “According to this person my crime is being black.”
, DataTimes MEMO: IDAHO HEADLINE: Harassment is unchecked, inmates claim