By Stephanie Finucane, The San Luis Obispo Tribune (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)
Videotaping played a key role in the exoneration of deputies involved in the arrest of Jay Vestal, but in the case of 23-year-old Keith Yecny -- who died following an incident at the County Jail that remains under investigation -- not everything was caught on tape.
While video cameras are installed in some sections of the jail, they are not mounted inside “safety cells” like the one where Yecny was held during his final hours in custody. But that may change.
The Sheriff’s Department is looking into the possibility of putting cameras inside safety cells if it can find some that won’t pose a hazard to suicidal inmates.
While video cameras aren’t required equipment, more and more agencies see them as an important tool -- and a form of protection for correctional officers.
“More times than not, they’ve helped correctional officers accused of something nefarious,” said Jerry Read, a field representative with the state Board of Corrections, the agency responsible for conducting inspections of local jails.
An incomplete video record
San Luis Obispo County Jail does have several cameras installed in hallways and other common areas. Some of those cameras are set up to record -- and did videotape Yecny inside the sobering cell where he was first held following his March 6 arrest on suspicion of being under the influence of alcohol and methamphetamine.
According to the Sheriff’s Department, Yecny struggled with jail staff and was transferred to a safety cell, where no video cameras were available to record the events that preceded his collapse. Yecny was transferred to the hospital, where he died a week later.
Doctors told Yecny’s family that he suffered some “significant event” that caused a loss of oxygen to the brain. Results of an autopsy are pending.
In this case, a videotape showing what occurred inside the safety cell would be helpful, Sheriff Pat Hedges said, but he reiterated that not every case is like this one.
“The safety cell is to be as sterile as possible,” he said, “and not provide opportunities for inmates to harm themselves.”
Safety cells are used to house inmates who jailors believe are a threat to their own or others’ safety.
Out in the field, however, it’s another situation. The Sheriff’s Department has a camera installed in every single patrol car, Hedges said.
“We found that video cameras have either reduced or helped us resolve a number of citizen complaints,” said the sheriff, “and certainly, in the case with Vestal, it has shown that some individuals who identified themselves as eyewitnesses were very mistaken in what they reported.”
Grand Jury asked for more cameras
The idea of installing cameras inside those cells isn’t new.
Four years ago, a county Grand Jury recommended that video cameras be installed inside the safety cells but the county did not adopt the recommendation.
At the time, Hedges responded by letter that the cameras weren’t warranted; that safety cells were already being monitored twice every 30 minutes in accordance with state regulations; and that additional personnel would be needed to monitor the cameras.
He also questioned the safety of putting anything inside a cell that could possibly be used in a suicide attempt.
Following a 2001 suicide at the County Jail, which occurred in a regular cell and not in a safety cell, he reiterated those reasons in an interview with a Tribune reporter.
“Anything you put in the cell is going to be a potential device where they can hurt themselves,” Hedges said then.
With new types of video cameras now available, though, the sheriff said Wednesday that he is taking a look at installing them inside safety cells.
“There are some (companies) that are providing a recessed or a flush mount that would provide us with that edge of safety,” said Hedges. “We certainly continue to look at any technology and in this case will make a determination of whether there’s a way to use cameras that will not provide any opportunity for inmates to harm themselves.”
Others have cameras
While no agency tracks the number of jails that use video surveillance systems, several do have cameras set up inside safety cells.
In Santa Barbara County, cameras are installed inside both the safety and “sobering” cells -- which house inmates under the influence of drugs and alcohol -- in both the Santa Barbara and Santa Maria facilities. Not all those cameras are set up to record, however. Some are used solely to monitor inmates and the ones that are used to record must be manually switched on by an officer in a control room.
Other jails have more sophisticated systems that offer a range of options. Some are motion activated so they record only when there is movement inside the cell, and automatically switch to higher resolution black-and-white film at night, to allow for easier viewing.
“My custody people love them,” said Sgt. Clay Epperson, a supervisor at the small Costa Mesa City Jail, which has a state-of-the-art video camera set up in every one of the six regular cells, and in the safety and sobering cells. “It’s been excellent. It’s a protection for the people working in there from false allegations. It shows we’re doing the right thing.”
The system includes a command console where small images from each camera can be watched simultaneously, or can be played on a larger monitor. The cameras are hooked up to a digital recording system that can store around 30 to 40 days of tape, of both audio and visual.
The system cost around $43,000 to install, but less expensive ones are available.
“You can get something for half the cost that works well,” said Eric Ackerman of Siemens Building Technology Inc., the firm that installed the Costa Mesa system.
The in-cell cameras are mounted on the ceiling, he said, and in his opinion, don’t present any hazard to suicidal inmates.
“The ceilings are so high there’s no way they could get up that high,” he said. “They’re in fully enclosed domes that are vandal resistant. You couldn’t tie a rope around it. There’s nothing protruding from it.”