New Evidence Delays Prison-Riot Trial Witness Reportedly Changed Story Regarding The Abuse Of Prisoners

A federal judge Friday indefinitely postponed the first trial resulting from the 1991 riot at the Montana State Prison after an attorney said he needed time to investigate new evidence.

Ron Waterman, a Helena lawyer for former inmate Glen Goings, said the evidence is a recent statement by a witness regarding accusations that guards abused prisoners after the riot and corrections officials conspired to cover up the mistreatment.

Goings’ lawsuit, scheduled for trial Sept. 22, alleges he was among the inmates injured by guards and that six former corrections officials failed to prevent it.

Waterman told U.S. Magistrate Leif Erickson he wanted the trial delayed so he could question 10 current or former prison employees named in an Aug. 22 statement by Julie Brewer-Smith.

Waterman said a court order prevented him from commenting further, but The Associated Press learned that Smith was a nurse at the prison infirmary on the day of the riot, in which five inmates were killed and several others injured.

Corrections Director Rick Day said Smith originally told the FBI that she saw no staff injure inmates, but she has since changed her version of what happened.

Day also claimed Waterman knew for months that Smith had recanted her earlier statements and that Waterman did not disclose that information to the state until late August.

Day said he will ask Gov. Marc Racicot to request an investigation, possibly by the FBI, into Smith’s conflicting statements and the way they were disclosed.

Waterman denied knowing about Smith’s latest statement before Aug. 22.

Smith, who lives in Deer Lodge, declined to comment and referred calls to her Missoula attorney, Paul McCann. He did not return a phone call.

In her statement, Smith admitted lying to the FBI. She said prison officials encouraged her to do so and threatened her if she told authorities about any wrongdoing on the part of the prison staff.

Goings was among 64 inmates in the maximum-security building at the prison when the four-hour riot began there on the morning of Sept. 22, 1991. Five prisoners being held in protective custody were killed before a team of officers stormed the building and ended the riot.

Fifty-two lawsuits against the state or prison officials have been filed over the riot. Two have been settled.

Most of the suits allege guards beat, kicked and tripped inmates as they were led naked and handcuffed out of the maximum-security building. Goings claimed his shoulder was broken when a guard threw him to the ground.