Post by Penny on Aug 18, 2009 5:51:13 GMT -5
DOC reviews inmate assault on guard
Sandra Chapman/13 Investigates
Pendleton - The Indiana Department of Correction confirms nearly a dozen prison guards at Pendleton have been fired or have quit as a result of drug investigations this year.
But the commissioner denies Kofi Ajabu, a defendant in the 1994 Carmel triple murders, is a target of that guard misbehavior.
DOC Commissioner Ed Buss and his team emerged from a closed door meeting swirling with allegations of prison corruption. It was a sit-down with the Reverend Mmoja Ajabu.
"He was very helpful. I was impressed, if I may say," the Associate Pastor of Light of the World Christian Church said of the commissioner.
Ajabu's son, Kofi, is one of three men who will likely die in prison for their roles in the Carmel triple murders 15 years ago.
But the focus on Monday: a prison conduct board at Pendleton that found Kofi guilty of assaulting a guard in 2007.
"The language they used was attempted murder," Mmoja Ajabu said in disbelief. "It looks like that there might have been a predisposed disposition to find him guilty," he said.
It cost him a year in solitary confinement and an unwelcome transfer to Wabash Valley, even though a Madison County judge dismissed the criminal charges.
"They have an electronic record of the movement of an inmate at all times," revealed the older Ajabu. "The record says that there's no way in the world that he could have assaulted the guard and checked in at the cafeteria at the time he checked in," he countered.
Department Spokesman Doug Garrison says there are still questions regarding the timing of it all.
"Kofi Ajabu indeed beat that prison guard," Garrison insisted.
Once at Wabash, prison officials said Kofi failed a drug test. But he says the sample was sealed out of his sight and key signatures were missing.
"There may have been some mistakes made with respect to the taking of the sample, and the chain of custody with the sample but that didn't go to the integrity of the test itself or whether or not he used drugs," Garrison told 13 Investigates.
Still, it's an issue the commissioner can't ignore.
"We've had 11 correctional officers either resign or be terminated for having been involved in heavy trafficking or having used drugs, having drugs in their system," Garrison explained.
The most recent are Internal Affairs Gang investigator Kyle Stevens and Correctional Officer Dan Hodges.
"It's obviously of great concern to us," said Garrison. "When we find it, we root it out, and we get rid of those we find involved in it."
But in the case of Kofi Ajabu, the DOC concluded there was simply no proof.
Both sides say there were pleased with the meeting.
The DOC agreed to restore Ajabu's contact visits, if he passes a new drug test.
Ajabu plans to reach out to guards at Pendleton with a letter. He will be allowed to speak on video to warn troubled youth about making bad decisions.
Kofi Ajabu is serving a 240-year sentence.
Video @ www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=10944076
Sandra Chapman/13 Investigates
Pendleton - The Indiana Department of Correction confirms nearly a dozen prison guards at Pendleton have been fired or have quit as a result of drug investigations this year.
But the commissioner denies Kofi Ajabu, a defendant in the 1994 Carmel triple murders, is a target of that guard misbehavior.
DOC Commissioner Ed Buss and his team emerged from a closed door meeting swirling with allegations of prison corruption. It was a sit-down with the Reverend Mmoja Ajabu.
"He was very helpful. I was impressed, if I may say," the Associate Pastor of Light of the World Christian Church said of the commissioner.
Ajabu's son, Kofi, is one of three men who will likely die in prison for their roles in the Carmel triple murders 15 years ago.
But the focus on Monday: a prison conduct board at Pendleton that found Kofi guilty of assaulting a guard in 2007.
"The language they used was attempted murder," Mmoja Ajabu said in disbelief. "It looks like that there might have been a predisposed disposition to find him guilty," he said.
It cost him a year in solitary confinement and an unwelcome transfer to Wabash Valley, even though a Madison County judge dismissed the criminal charges.
"They have an electronic record of the movement of an inmate at all times," revealed the older Ajabu. "The record says that there's no way in the world that he could have assaulted the guard and checked in at the cafeteria at the time he checked in," he countered.
Department Spokesman Doug Garrison says there are still questions regarding the timing of it all.
"Kofi Ajabu indeed beat that prison guard," Garrison insisted.
Once at Wabash, prison officials said Kofi failed a drug test. But he says the sample was sealed out of his sight and key signatures were missing.
"There may have been some mistakes made with respect to the taking of the sample, and the chain of custody with the sample but that didn't go to the integrity of the test itself or whether or not he used drugs," Garrison told 13 Investigates.
Still, it's an issue the commissioner can't ignore.
"We've had 11 correctional officers either resign or be terminated for having been involved in heavy trafficking or having used drugs, having drugs in their system," Garrison explained.
The most recent are Internal Affairs Gang investigator Kyle Stevens and Correctional Officer Dan Hodges.
"It's obviously of great concern to us," said Garrison. "When we find it, we root it out, and we get rid of those we find involved in it."
But in the case of Kofi Ajabu, the DOC concluded there was simply no proof.
Both sides say there were pleased with the meeting.
The DOC agreed to restore Ajabu's contact visits, if he passes a new drug test.
Ajabu plans to reach out to guards at Pendleton with a letter. He will be allowed to speak on video to warn troubled youth about making bad decisions.
Kofi Ajabu is serving a 240-year sentence.
Video @ www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=10944076