'10 hours in hell': Allegations of abuse at the Greene Co. Jail reach a national audience

A woman lambasted Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott on a popular national podcast last week, alleging she was abused, mistreated and humiliated in the Greene County Jail on her wedding night.

The sheriff said he is aware of the allegations, described in an open letter, which was also widely circulated on Facebook.

The woman, 31-year-old Erica Russell, described "10 hours in hell," when, among other things, she was forced to urinate and later strip naked from the waist down, all in full view of male guards and inmates.

Sheriff Jim Arnott said video and audio recordings refute the woman's "disturbing account" and show that jail staff did nothing wrong.

The letter was read on a recent episode of the podcast "Guys We've F****d: The Anti Slut-Shaming Podcast," which aired Jan 19.

The weekly podcast is based in New York, with more than a million listeners worldwide, according to the show's website. The episodes are hosted by stand-up comedians Corinne Fisher and Krystyna Hutchinson. They regularly read and discuss listener emails on their podcast.

The letter began: "Dear Mr. Arnott, My name is Erica Russell and I’m a victim of the Greene County jail. And I say victim because what you are doing to people in there is well outside the scope of anything anyone could call law enforcement. It’s more like sadistic third-world torture."

Russell said that her experience in the jail has permanently changed her and left her "mentally handicapped."

After the podcast aired, the Greene County Sheriff's official Facebook page received dozens of one-star reviews. Many of the reviews, seemingly attributed to authors from across the country, mention Russell by name.

Cpl. Cathy Ussery, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office, told the News-Leader on Tuesday afternoon they have gotten at least a dozen other emails or phone calls from the public about the letter.

Reached by the News-Leader on Friday, Arnott said his office has not been contacted by Russell or attorneys representing Russell.

Arnott said he did not listen to the podcast but saw a copy of Russell's letter on Facebook several weeks ago.

After learning about Russell's allegations, Arnott said he pulled video and audio recordings of that night.

"I reviewed her entire stay here at the county jail," Arnott said.

Arnott said the recordings are not public record and he could not comment specifically on what they show.

"She did stay for several hours," Arnott said. "The only thing I can tell you is that the things stated in her letter are not true."

Arnott said he welcomes Russell to come in and watch the video if she decides to make a complaint.

"The staff did everything in compliance with the policies to deal with her in her intoxicated state," Arnott said.

If Russell files an official complaint against the Greene County Sheriff's Office, Arnott said, it would start a process that would make the recordings public record.

Monday afternoon, the Greene County Sheriff's Office's official Twitter account also tweeted a statement from Arnott denying the writer's allegations and asking Russell to file a complaint, for the sake of transparency.

Reached by the News-Leader on Wednesday morning, Russell, who lives in St. Louis, said she originally posted the open letter to the Greene County Sheriff's Facebook page in December.

Russell said she was working with a lawyer and was under the impression an official complaint had already been submitted to the sheriff's office.

However, she found out Tuesday night that her lawyer did not mail the complaint in, as he said he would, Russell said.

Russell said she is now looking for a new attorney and she will personally file a complaint with the sheriff's office Wednesday.

"Now I find myself in the unimaginably frustrating situation of, this happened, nobody's going to believe me and my lawyer (messed) up," Russell told the News-Leader.

Russell said she has a request for Arnott: "Just produce the tapes .... Every word of the story is true and every part will be corroborated if the video tape is produced."

Russell mentioned that about four years ago she was on a reality TV show, ABC's The Glass House.

"This is why I always make things public — reality TV taught me that if you're just a good person, the video evidence eventually vindicates you," Russell said.

The letter and police documents

Russell's widely circulated letter gave a long and detailed account of alleged incidents that took place in late November.

It said Russell got married to her fiance at the Greene County Courthouse "in matching pegasus onesies from Walmart" on Nov. 30, then arrested that night.

They were celebrating and drinking alcohol at Russell's sister-in-law's home, the letter said, when her husband got mad and pushed her out of a lawn chair and onto the ground, bruising her hip.

An incident report from the Springfield Police Department provided additional details.

About 1:30 a.m., police responded to a domestic assault at a house in southeast Springfield and arrested Russell, the incident report said.

Police interviewed Russell's brother-in-law, Jared Mason, who said Russell and her husband had been drinking all day. Mason said they attempted to get married earlier that day at Bass Pro Shops. Mason also said Russell attempted to buy a shotgun but was denied due to her intoxication level.

Mason told police Russell and her husband argued throughout the night and he saw Russell slap her husband in the face multiple times.

In an interview with police, the husband initially said Russell hit him "a few times," but then refused to give further details. Police said he said he did not want to get Russell in trouble and then began denying that she hit him.

At one point, according to the report, the husband said, "I'm just going to lie and say nothing happened if you ask me anything."

According to the police report, Russell told officers her husband pushed her from a chair, causing her to fall onto the ground. Russell's letter also says that Russell did nothing wrong and that her new husband was the aggressor.

After Russell's arrest, the letter said, she stayed in the Greene County Jail for about 10 hours. Sheriff Arnott told the News-Leader that recordings from that night showed Russell was held for four or five hours.

The letter said guards handled Russell forcefully. Among other things, it said they made Russell take her clothes off in full view of male guards and inmates. Guards gave Russell a jail-issued T-shirt but no pants, leaving her completely exposed from the waist down for multiple hours, the letter said.

The letter described Russell urinating into a drain in the middle of her cell, "sobbing and flushed with embarrassment while the officers at the desk and a dozen or so male inmates witnessed my debasement with vocal enthusiasm and laughter."

The letter said guards and inmates made derogatory statements about her body. Russell said she was afraid she would be sexually assaulted.

"They laughed at me. I could not believe that all of these people were tacitly agreeing that this was fine to do to me, apparently. I had never beheld people — complete strangers — who openly laughed and relished my pain. And that changes you," the letter said.

Eventually, Russell was given a straightjacket to cover herself, the letter said.

"I was given no food, water or restroom privileges throughout the ten hours of my detainment — which was supposed to have been five," the letter said.

Throughout, the letter depicts Russell as clear-headed and sober: "I was calm and collected and erudite."

"Nice white girls think they're safe. And I'm so sorry, ladies, but you're not safe anymore," the letter said.

According to a document from the Greene County Prosecutor's Office, the state declined to prosecute Russell for any crimes because there were no visible injuries and the victim did not wish to cooperate.

Russell said she plans to sue the sheriff's office: "I will be suing their pants off and I will be laughing all the way there."

The full audio of the podcast episode is embedded below.

NOTE: The episode contains explicit language and detailed descriptions of abuse.

The sheriff's full written statement

"We have received numerous posts and emails alleging a very disturbing account of a Ms. Russell's stay in the Greene County jail through social media. It is unknown who the author of this account actually is. The person alleging this story, or Ms. Russell, has yet to come forward and file a complaint. We take allegations of abuse and mistreatment very seriously and thoroughly investigate any formal complaint. The detention of Ms. Russell was recorded on video and is preserved. However, the disturbing story does not match the recorded detention of Ms. Russell. In an effort of transparency, we would like the author and/or Ms. Russell to come forward, file an official complaint and review the video with us." — Sheriff Jim C. Arnott