It was a warm, sunny morning in May when the privately owned inmate transport van pulled into the sally port at the Greene County Jail.

A guard and an inmate got out and headed inside. Another inmate — Dennis Shaner, who was bound for the Taney County Jail — complained he felt sick and persuaded the remaining guard to let him out of the van.

Once outside, 50-year-old Shaner opened the van's passenger door, snatched an unsecured handgun from the floorboard and shot himself in the head.

Information disclosed in the aftermath of the May 24 incident suggests Shaner's death could have been prevented, if procedures were followed, and should have been foreseen, considering his history of suicidal threats and the poor record of the company that transported him.

The van Shaner was riding in was owned by Inmate Services Corporation, a West Memphis, Arkansas-based company that has an extensive history of escapes and accusations of maltreatment of inmates.

The company has faced at least 15 federal lawsuits in recent years, most alleging unsafe conditions and inmate abuse — issues that are not uncommon in the inmate transport industry.

In 2017, the company made headlines when two inmates escaped in Oklahoma, causing a national manhunt that lasted more than a month. In that incident, inmates put one guard in a chokehold and held a pencil to his neck while the other guard was asleep and wearing headphones. The van was later found abandoned with an empty gun holster inside.

It is unclear if changes have been made by the company to improve security.

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Since Shaner's death, the News-Leader found reports of another inmate escape as well as allegations that a guard sexually assaulted an inmate.

Randy Cagle is president of Inmate Services Corporation. He answered News-Leader questions regarding Shaner’s death by email in May but has not responded to recent phone and email messages.

In May, Cagle said the guards had no idea Shaner was suicidal. Had they known, Cagle wrote, Shaner would not have been put in the van.

Inmates who were in the van that day and the days leading up to Shaner's suicide tell a very different story. Their comments — specifically their description of what Shaner looked like — are corroborated by the Greene County sheriff's investigation into Shaner's death.

Those inmates said Shaner’s throat and both arms had fresh sutures from an apparently recent suicide attempt.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:Inmate shoots self near Greene County Jail entrance

The Greene County Sheriff's Office went so far as to file a probable cause statement against the guard who left the gun on the floorboard. The prosecutor declined to charge the man with a crime.

Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott said that because of Shaner’s death, his office has stopped doing business with Inmate Services Corporation and has contracted with another private transport company.

Still, other counties in the Ozarks — including Taney and Christian — continue to use Inmate Services Corporation to transport inmates to and from other jails and prisons.

When Shaner was led out of a Florida jail cell to be transported to the Taney County Jail earlier this year, he was dressed in a blue anti-suicide smock. His wrists and throat had fresh sutures.

That's according to Justin Hayes, a Greene County inmate who was on the transport van at the time and who was allowed to go inside the Florida jail to use the bathroom while Shaner was being processed.

"I looked at the guard," Hayes said, recalling when he first saw Shaner. "The guard just smiled."

Hayes said that Shaner changed out of the smock and into regular clothes before he was handcuffed and led onto the transport van.

According to Hayes, Shaner repeatedly and loudly talked about wanting to kill himself over the next three days as they zigzagged across the country, picking up and dropping off inmates.

"He said he wanted to die. He said he didn't want to live," Hayes said in a jailhouse interview. "You could tell he cut his throat, had stitches from ear to ear. He was stitched up and down his right arm and left arm long ways. Not across the wrists, but longways. ... That's when you want to die."

Randy Dunn, who was picked up at a federal prison by the transport company two days after Shaner, confirmed what Hayes described.

"He was determined to kill himself, he said," Dunn said during an interview with the News-Leader at the Christian County Jail. "These weren't little stitches."

"I've seen attention seekers (do it) this way," Dunn continued, running an index finger along the base of his hand. "They were not little cuts. This was the real deal. ... He nicked the jugular."

Cagle, president of Inmate Service Corporation, said in an email that his company's "protocol is to deny transport of any inmate designated to be currently or recently on suicide watch."

"We were unaware that he was suicidal," Cagle said in the email. "Medical information is provided prior to the custody exchange and his report did not disclose this."

Documents obtained by the News-Leader from the Greene County Sheriff's Office investigation into Shaner's death confirm Hayes' and Dunn's description of Shaner's recently slashed neck and arms.

It was about 10:30 a.m. when the Inmate Services Corporation van arrived at the Greene County jail May 24.

According to both Hayes and Dunn — who were separated moments before Shaner shot himself and have not been reunited nor had a chance to talk since — one of the guards volunteered to bring Hayes inside the jail to be booked.

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As is standard with inmate transport companies, guards are not allowed to bring weapons into the jails. Instead, there is a lock box in the sally port where guns must be placed.

The guard — a man named Steven Tyler, 28, of Tallahatchie, Mississippi — told Greene County investigators that he owned the gun and was told by his boss that he was not supposed to carry a gun in the first place.

Tyler said he got the gun out of his vehicle before his shift began and attached it to his pants anyway, according to documents related to Shaner’s death investigation.

Dunn and Hayes said that Tyler left the gun on the floorboard rather than walk to the lock box and secure the weapon properly.

Then, as Tyler escorted Hayes inside to be booked, Shaner began complaining about being sick and asked to be let out of the van to get some fresh air.

Dunn was seated next to Shaner.

"He kept asking to switch seats, saying he was going to be sick. He'd say, 'Come on, I'm gonna puke,'" Dunn said. "I said, 'I'm not gonna keep playing musical chairs.'"

Dunn cussed at Shaner a little bit — something he later regretted when Shaner got hold of the gun.

Eventually, the remaining guard let Shaner out of the vehicle.

"He stood there with his hand on the van, hunched over like he was going to be sick," Dunn said.

Though he was handcuffed, Shaner was able to open the passenger door and grab the gun.

Dunn and Hayes both expressed anger at Tyler for not securing the gun.

"The reason the guy killed himself is because (Tyler) is ... lazy. The place to put your gun in the little boxes isn't about five feet away," Hayes said. "He just threw it in the floorboard. That's how (Shaner) got the gun."

Dunn told a similar story.

"(Shaner) had been watching, waiting for his chance," Dunn said. "He reached through the passenger window, unlocked the door and got the gun and killed himself."

"He got the gun, took about five steps back, looked right at me and said, 'I told you it was over. I told you it was over,'" Dunn said, making his hand into the shape of a gun and holding it to his head.

The memory still haunts him.

"It's been hard to sleep sometimes," Dunn said. "He could have killed us all. It would have been like shooting fish in a barrel."

Inmate Services Corporation has faced at least 15 federal lawsuits in recent years, most alleging unsafe conditions and inmate abuse.

One suit — a class-action involving more than 100 individuals — is seeking more than $5 million.

That class action suit says one plaintiff was held for five straight days without ever being provided a shower, a bed, adequate physical exercise, sufficient breaks, his prescribed medication or the ability to perform basic hygiene like brushing his teeth.

Other lawsuits and media reports reveal numerous allegations have been leveled against the private transportation company, including claims that inmates were handcuffed and shackled for several days while in transit.

Ohio attorney John Spellacy is among those representing the inmates in a class-action lawsuit against Inmate Services Corporation.

Upon learning about the suicide incident in Springfield, Spellacy said his heart goes out to Shaner's family. Yet, Spellacy said he is not necessarily surprised.

"They have an obligation to treat these people humanely. And it is clear from all the evidence I've seen that they did not treat these people humanely," he said. "This is an extreme example of the inhumane treatment that they have provided to hundreds, if not thousands, of inmates they've transported."

"We've got to remember some of these people that they are transporting, they may be wanted for a very minor misdemeanor," Spellacy continued. "In many of these cases, these are people that have no prior history and are simply alleged to have committed a crime. They are not even convicted or anything. To treat them the way they are being treated — we treat animals better."

Former Inmate Services Corporation guard Christina Hall saw a previous News-Leader story about Inmate Services Corporation and called to speak with the reporter. She said she worked for the company from July to late November and did not leave on good terms.

Hall said not long before she quit, she noticed blood and what appeared to be brain matter smeared on the visor of her van. She found a letter from an insurance company in the glove box regarding Shaner's suicide and put two and two together — that she was riding in the same van and it had not been cleaned. She took photos of the brain matter and blood and sent them to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Hall said she was never told about a company policy regarding suicidal inmates. But once she had an inmate who was supposed to be on psychotropic medication and was beating his head against the window.

"I called and asked, 'What do I do?'" she said. "They were like, 'Just let him do what he was going to do. If he hurts himself, he does.'"

Hall said that inmates often stole alcohol from gas stations, but there wasn't much the guards could do since they were only allowed to carry pepper spray.

Hall said there was a fight in the van due to alcohol during her first trip with the company.

"Everybody was getting hit. It was horrible," she recalled. "At that time, I didn't even have Mace. I couldn't spray them. I had to just let them fight because my partner was inside the store."

Because there are no cages or partitions separating the guards from the inmates, Hall said she often felt like she was in a dangerous position.

Hall was involved in a recent escape that made headlines in Tennessee.

"My partner was driving. I was asleep. We pulled into a rest stop and my partner didn't wake me up," she said. "I was sick at the time so my nose was stopped up, my ears were stopped up. So I didn't wake up. ....

"I was woke up by state police. They were telling me my inmate escaped. All of the inmates were just scattered across the rest stop. I had to go and round up all 10 inmates."

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The escapee was caught after about 18 hours.

"Luckily he wasn't a murderer or a rapist because we were right next to a school," she said.

On a recent trip, Hall said she picked up an inmate who was having seizures. She was told at the jail that the inmate should be brought to the hospital because he needed anti-seizure medication.

"I called my boss and he's like, 'Well, don't worry about taking him to the hospital. Just get him there. If he has a seizure, f*** him.' That is what he said," Hall continued. "And of course he has a seizure. And this inmate was a veteran. All he had was a destruction of property charge.

"This guy is a veteran and has brain trauma from the war, and you are told to treat him like this."

Because she had five years experience working in a maximum security prison, Hall said, she didn't have any training with Inmate Services Corporation.

Hall said there are always two guards in a van and they typically drive six to 15 hours at a time. While one guard drives, the other sleeps.

Asked if the 15-hour limit was mandated by the company, Hall said no.

"That is when we would get exhausted," she said.

In addition to driving long hours, guards are also encouraged to drive fast, she said.

"We have a schedule that has times that we are supposed to be at each jail," she said. "You have to be going at least 80 miles per hour to get to each pick up on time. ... If you get there late, of course, you get in trouble."

If a trip was more than seven days, drivers are allowed to put the inmates in a local jail while the guards could get one motel room for 12 hours. She said her longest trip was 13 days. She figures the longest she went without getting a shower was eight days.

According to Hall, the company has 10-person vans, but they would often squeeze in up to 15 inmates in at a time. There are no seat belts, she said.

"We would have them sitting on the floor, laying on the floor, sitting on milk crates. They had no support," she said. "They couldn't lay down. They were not allowed to get out of the van unless it was a bathroom break.

"It was horrible for them."

According to Inmate Services Corporation's website, the company also transports juveniles.

Hayes, who was interviewed by the News-Leader in the Greene County Jail a few months ago, is charged with second-degree domestic assault and is set for a probation violation hearing in January.

He said he'd been on the transport van for about 10 days, traveling from Tennessee to Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, back to Tennessee, then Indiana and finally Missouri.

Hayes said inmates were allowed to smoke, they had alcohol — mostly stolen from gas stations, he said, but on one occasion a guard bought some beer — and talked to people inside and in the parking lots at gas stations.

"We left one guy at a rest stop," Hayes recalled. "He was (using the bathroom). They forgot and we loaded up and left. And we got to driving. (A guard) did a count and said, 'Oh, we are missing one.' We went back to the rest stop. The inmate couldn't really run — he was shackled and in handcuffs in the middle of nowhere. So he's just standing out front waiting."

Once, according to Hayes, the van was pulled over for speeding in excess of 90 miles per hour.

Dunn, the inmate who was seated next to Shaner, was in federal prison in Virginia when he was picked up by Inmate Services Corporation and transported to Christian County to deal with old charges.

He is serving prison time for first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle, resisting arrest and leaving the scene of an accident. Dunn said he expects to be in prison until 2024.

"I've been on a lot of transports," Dunn said. "It was the most relaxed transport of my life.

"I thought it was a vacation. I didn't want it to end. We rode and smoked the whole time."

"I thought it was going to be like a prison transport," Dunn said, shaking his head. "It was really lax. No cages. Nothing separating us from the driver."

Although Dunn said there was no alcohol on the van while he was aboard, the other inmates bragged to him about having booze.

Dunn sat next to Shaner for two days and said he noticed the fresh stitches on Shaner's neck and forearms immediately.

"He was an ex-vet, a military vet," Dunn said. "He was determined to kill himself.

"I felt sorry for him. I'm not very old, but I've been doing this a few years. I wish I would have said something to him. There should have been more security."

"He said he lost his kids. He lost his wife," Dunn said. " ... It's just a sad situation. It could have all been prevented with just a little common sense."

Shaner's ex-wife, Christine Camasso, said he called her about a week before his arrest in Florida. He said he was in trouble and needed money. She said Shaner also talked about wanting to kill himself.

Camasso said she and Shaner were not on good terms. They had been divorced for decades.

She refused to give him money but tried to talk him out of suicide.

"One of the last things I said to him was don't do anything stupid," she said. "Because he did say he was going to kill himself."

"The last thing he did tell me was he is going to blow his brains out," she said. "Exact words."

Shaner told Camasso that he had recently checked himself into a Veterans Affairs hospital because of this suicidal thoughts.

"It's kind of sad in the end," she said. "I feel really terrible for him. We were all hoping he would get himself back on track."

When Shaner later was arrested in Florida, authorities discovered he had a warrant from Taney County. Soon Inmate Services Corporation — which continues to transport prisoners all over the country — sent a van to pick him up.

According to Hayes and Dunn, Shaner said that while he was in the Florida jail he used a razor to slit both of his forearms and neck.

"He didn't need to be on that bus," Hayes said. "My life was in danger."

Dunn echoed the idea in his own interview.

"If that guy would have been homicidal instead of suicidal," Dunn said, "we would all be dead."