The Denver Sheriff Department fired three deputies within a two-week period for using excessive force against inmates, including one mentally ill man who believed that God had descended from the clouds to hand-deliver a Bible.

Deputy William Jackson and Deputy Steven Roybal were terminated June 27, and Deputy Monwell Fuller was terminated July 12, according to their disciplinary letters, which were obtained by The Denver Post through an open-records request. All three incidents happened at the Downtown Detention Center.

In an e-mailed statement, Sheriff Patrick Firman said, “The Denver Sheriff Department does not tolerate the use of excessive force by deputies. While force is sometimes necessary, the use of excessive force is never justified.”

In all three cases, Shannon Elwell, a civilian review administrator in the Department of Safety, wrote that the deputies’ actions violated the department’s guiding principles of respect, judgment, sensitivity, integrity, accountability and professionalism.

“Deputies hold a position of trust, a trust bestowed upon them by the department and the community and are visible representatives of government,” each letter said. “They are given enormous discretion in carrying out their duties — discretion which also carries tremendous responsibility, especially as it pertains to authority to use force.”

Jackson’s termination stems from a Nov. 24, 2014, episode where an inmate in a mental health unit had the front and back hardcover from a Bible. Jackson considered it contraband and threw it in a passageway where it would be collected, the disciplinary letter said.

The inmate told investigators that he had received the Bible when clouds came down in his cell and God came down a stairwell and told him, “I love you,” the letter said. The inmate was upset over losing the Bible and was resisting going back to his cell.

At the cell door, the inmate, much smaller than Jackson, grabbed onto the door frame. Jackson said the inmate was showing “excessive resistance,” but investigators determined that was an exaggeration.

Jackson grabbed the inmate’s neck from behind and threw him backward and off his feet. The inmate’s head slammed into a metal table that was bolted to the floor, the letter said, and he suffered a minor head injury.

Jackson failed to consider the inmate’s mental illness as a communication barrier and let his frustration get the better of him, the letter said.

“Lastly, the Department is greatly concerned that Deputy Jackson chose to use such inappropriate force in the context of a dispute over an object with purported significant religious meaning to a mentally ill individual,” Elwell wrote in the letter.

In Roybal’s case, the deputy kicked a cell-door flap and smashed an inmate’s fingers in July 2015, his disciplinary letter said.

The inmate had become agitated after being served breakfast and had thrown hot coffee and a tray through a door slot where food is served, the letter said. He also was waving his hands through the flap and threatening the deputy and other inmates who were helping collect breakfast trays.

“Without preamble, Deputy Roybal delivered a swift kick to the door flap of inmate JD’s cell while inmate JD’s hands were clearly visible still grasping the door flap,” the letter said.

Roybal gave internal investigators multiple reasons as to why he kicked the door flap. He also failed to report the kick when notifying a sergeant about the temper tantrum over the food, the letter said. The inmate’s fingers were bruised.

Roybal needed to close the door flap for security purposes, but investigators found the swift kick was “done for the purpose of punishment and retaliation,” according to his disciplinary letter.

Finally, Fuller was fired after he got into a conflict in January with an inmate over phone use.

The inmate was not following Fuller’s orders to hang up a phone, and Fuller ordered the inmate to go on lockdown in his cell, his disciplinary letter said.

The inmate argued with Fuller and at first refused to go to his cell. But the inmate turned to walk away, and Fuller began pushing the inmate in the back, the letter said.

After being pushed, the inmate turned around and took a step toward Fuller. Fuller then punched the inmate in the face and then grabbed his neck and slammed him to the ground, the letter said.

The push, the punch and the neck slam were done as punishment and for retaliation, the letter said.

“Not only was the use-of-force situation created and escalated by Deputy Fuller, it was also unnecessary,” his letter said.

It was Fuller’s second excessive-force complaint. He was suspended for 10 days in 2014 after instigating a fight with another inmate by shoving him and then grabbing him by the neck.

The firings come as the sheriff’s department is changing its use-of-force policy to focus on de-escalating conflict between deputies and inmates. The three were fired under the old policy because deputies are still being trained on the new use of force rules.

Attorneys for all three deputies argued against their terminations. Two attorneys said the harsh discipline would send a message that inmates could get away with defying orders.

In Fuller’s letter, Elwell wrote a summary of his attorney’s arguments saying, “Your attorney then made arguments about the culture in the department as ‘the inmates are sort of running the roost,’ and stated that the inmates are very dangerous criminals. Your attorney argued that a deputy’s job is to maintain safety and security, especially with an inmate who is defying orders, blading himself and acting aggressively toward a deputy.”