Secret tape: Parchman prison head accused of impeding criminal probe

Jerry Mitchell | Mississippi Clarion Ledger

Show Caption Hide Caption Secret tape of Parchman prison head: 'I guess I'm a criminal, too.' The FBI is once again investigating allegations that corrections officers assaulted an inmate at the State Penitentiary at Parchman — this time with the claim that Superintendent Earnest Lee hindered his prison’s own investigation.

The FBI is once again investigating allegations that corrections officers assaulted an inmate at the State Penitentiary at Parchman — this time with the claim that Superintendent Earnest Lee hindered his prison’s own investigation.

In an audio recording obtained by The Clarion-Ledger, investigators for the Criminal Investigations Division repeatedly asked Lee to stop interfering with their Nov. 21 investigation of corrections officer Steven Tyler, who was a criminal suspect. Lee refused, saying, “I guess I’m a criminal, too.”

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Lee, who took over the top job in 2012, has defended his actions, saying he was told that investigators had assaulted Tyler, who was accused of beating an inmate.

Corrections Commissioner Pelicia Hall said her administration “does not tolerate or condone any mistreatment of staff or inmates, regardless if staff or inmates are making the allegations. Discussing any ongoing investigation, however, is improper, as is commenting about allegations regarding internal personnel matters.”

The new FBI investigation arose after four former corrections officers at Parchman pleaded guilty to federal charges for their involvement in the cover-up of a 2014 assault of an inmate.

Earlier this month, 29-year-old former corrections officer Lawardrick Marsher received 50 weekends behind bars for severely beating that unnamed inmate.

Marsher admitted he repeatedly punched and kicked the inmate, who suffered severe blood loss, a broken orbital bone and partial vision loss.

After the attack, Marsher and other officers covered up the attack, writing false reports and lying to federal investigators.

The leader of that cover-up, Marsher’s supervisor, 47-year-old Robert Sturdivant, is expected to be sentenced Friday.

Deonte Pate, 24, received 12 weekends in jail for his role in concealing the beating. Romander Nelson, 44, received 14 weekends in jail for failing to intervene to protect the victim.

In the wake of these cases, Christopher Freeze, special agent in charge of the FBI in Mississippi, declared that corrections officers must uphold the law.

“Inmates are not less than human and maintain inalienable civil rights; therefore, they should be treated with justice, not callous assault,” he said. “The FBI will continue to aggressively investigate allegations of civil rights violations.”

In a hearing last March, John Rogers, CID investigative chief at Parchman, testified that the mother of an inmate had complained that two corrections officers assaulted her son at the prison on Nov. 21.

CID investigators confronted Tyler, who denied assaulting an inmate. They then noticed what appeared to be blood on his clothing and told him they needed his pants as evidence.

When Tyler tried to leave, investigator James Bobo, who was recording the exchange, told him he couldn’t leave and stood in the door.

“(Tyler) grabbed Investigator Bobo and threw him out of the way,” investigator William Carter testified. “I grabbed Officer Tyler around his body and pushed him into the wall, trying to stop him from leaving. He pushed me off, and by that time Investigator Bobo had done got back up.”

The investigators then received help from Rogers, Carter said. “Officer Tyler is a large fellow.”

Carter said he told the officer that he was under arrest for failing to comply with an order and resisting arrest.

Rogers requested the K-9 Unit for backup, but Superintendent Lee denied the request, according to the investigative report by the internal affairs unit, CID Integrity.

After getting Tyler in handcuffs, investigators put him in a chair and began to question him.

He denied hitting the inmate, and Rogers said he urged Tyler to tell the truth, citing the recent convictions of other Parchman officers.

Rogers said Tyler agreed to recant his statement and relinquish his clothing and boots as evidence.

While Rogers was talking with Tyler, Lee entered with K-9 officers and tried to remove Tyler, Rogers testified.

He said he stood up to block Tyler’s leaving. Bobo gestured that Tyler was staying, and Lee grabbed Bobo by the wrist, according to the report.

On the audiotape, Lee can be heard yelling, “I have a right to talk to this officer.”

“Not while we’re doing this,” Rogers replied. “No, sir, you do not.”

He said Lee kept trying to pull Tyler out of the chair. “For the record,” Rogers said, “please release my suspect.”

Lee replied, “For the record, I have a right to talk to this officer.”

“No, you do not,” Rogers said. “Let him go, superintendent.”

Lee asked, “When did you become judge and jury?”

“I’m not a judge. I’m not a jury.”

“Now you’re going to say he assaulted y’all. Who?”

Rogers told Lee, “Look at the room,” where chairs were reportedly overturned.

Tyler told Lee, “They tried to stop me from leaving out of here, sir.”

“Who assaulted who?” Lee asked.

Tyler responded, “They actually assaulted me.”

Lee said, “It’s three against one.”

Tyler said of Rogers, “This is Mr. Chief here. He hit me between the legs.”

“What else did he do?” Lee asked.

Tyler said, “He grabbed me around the neck and choked me out.”

Lee began to question Tyler. “Are you dealing with inmates?”

“No, sir,” Tyler replied.

“Are you bringing in contraband to inmates?”

“No, sir.”

“They’re interviewing you about an assault on an inmate, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“OK, that’s good.”

Lee turned back to Rogers, asking, “So what caused a staff member to go to Sunflower County Jail because he’s been alleged to have assaulted an inmate?”

“We haven’t left the building with him yet,” Rogers said. “We are still processing, talking to this suspect.”

Rogers testified that he told Bobo to go and call the CID director and tell him what was happening, but Lee wouldn’t let Bobo leave.

“Why are you trying to interfere with the investigation, superintendent?” Rogers asked.

Lee responded, “I have a right to talk to any of these staff members out here.”

Rogers replied, “Not during the course of the investigation. You’re impeding a criminal investigation right now.”

In a soft voice, Bobo told Lee, “I need to step out of the room for a minute. Mr. Lee, are you going to let me step out of the room for a minute? Yes, no, maybe, possibly?”

After Lee questioned what was happening, a scuffle could be heard on tape.

“Let him out,” Rogers told Lee.

“I need to step out of the room,” Bobo said.

“Get back, get back,” Lee replied.

“Let him out,” Rogers shouted.

“Don’t put your hand on me now,” Lee told Bobo, “or I’ll gonna put mines on you.”

“You already did,” Bobo replied. “Remember?”

“Back up,” Rogers said.

Tyler told Lee, “Mr. Bobo had grabbed me around the neck. ... Chief Rogers kicked me between the legs.”

Tyler said he was hit between the legs and had a knee put in his back until he was handcuffed.

Lee told Rogers that force against an inmate was “wrong, but I’ve never known of allegations where you take a person down to Sunflower County Jail for that.”

When Bobo reported that CID Director Sean Smith was on the phone, Rogers said to tell him that the superintendent has the door blocked.

Lee questioned whether Tyler’s assault on an inmate could have been justified — just like the investigators’ assault on Tyler.

“We’re not in a debate here,” Rogers responded.

“You got that right,” Lee replied.

“This is a criminal suspect at this point, and you’re interfering with an investigation.”

“I guess I’m a criminal, too.”

“You are violating due process with our investigation.”

When Lee said he wanted to know what happened, Rogers said he wasn’t going to talk about the matter in front of everybody.

He told K-9 officers, “Officer Williams, you need to take your group out. Take ‘em out.”

Lee told the officers to stay put, saying, “Y’all take orders from me.”

The taped conversation between Rogers and Lee ended there.

According to the report, the following happened:

Corrections supervisors agreed that Tyler would give his clothing to CID and be allowed to depart.

After Tyler turned over his clothing, investigator William Carter asked for Tyler and Lee to stay for a moment until Rogers returned to make certain CID had everything it needed.

According to the report, Lee grabbed the wrist of Carter to remove him from the doorway, and when Bobo saw this encounter, he extended his arms to separate Lee and Carter.

Lee then slapped Bobo, according to the report. Bobo later filed assault charges against Lee.

The report concluded Lee and Bobo “physically assaulted each other,” but that Bobo and other CID investigators did nothing wrong.

Three months later, Lee filed an affidavit alleging Bobo caused “bodily injuries to me while performing my duties as superintendent by grabbing me at one point and running into me.”

Bobo’s lawyer Erich Jerscheid asked Lee in a hearing, “Bare physical contact is what you consider to be bodily injury?”

“Yes, sir,” Lee replied.

“Did you ever seek any medical evaluation?”

“No, sir.”

Asked at what point he slapped Bobo, Lee replied, “When he ran into me and grabbed me.”

Lee said he went over because warden Timothy Morris had told him that CID investigators had assaulted an officer.

“At any point did you refuse to allow a CID officer to leave?” Jerscheid asked.

“No,” Lee replied.

“You never blocked anybody’s access?”

“I was standing at the door,” Lee answered. “He could have went around me.”

Months after this, Lee and Tyler filed charges against CID investigators Bobo, Rogers and Carter.

After a judge ruled there was probable cause that Bobo assaulted Tyler, Commissioner Hall ordered Bobo’s suspension. On Friday, her office told Bobo that he had been reinstated and would begin work Wednesday more than 140 miles away at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.

Bobo's wife told The Clarion-Ledger that the couple had also been evicted from the home where they are living on the Parchman property and have only 30 days to move out.

Rogers has been terminated, and Lee continues to work as Parchman’s superintendent.

Hundreds of assaults take place inside Mississippi prisons each year, inmates attacking other inmates.

While the state Department of Corrections didn't readily have the exact figures for those assaults, they did have figures for inmates assaulting officers — an average of about 50 a year.

Janna Bridges, a former corrections officer at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, recalled some officers assaulting inmates.

She still winces at the thought of one years ago — a young African-American offender who was in almost constant pain because he suffered from sickle-cell disease.

“The inmates were told to line up and don’t talk,” she said. “He got out of line, and a couple of officers jumped on him and just beat him down. I was just sick over it.”

Asked what happened to the officers, she grew silent, then spoke. “Nothing.”

Contact Jerry Mitchell at (601) 961-7064 or jmitchell@gannett.com. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.