Inmate Says Quotes Led to Solitary Confinement

Orange County Jail inmate Thomas F. Maniscalco said Tuesday that he was moved to the solitary confinement of a medical observation cell after being quoted in an article in The Times about a petition signed by prisoners requesting more Mexican food.

Tuesday afternoon, sheriff’s deputies also charged Maniscalco with a series of jail disciplinary violations that his attorney, Joanne Harrold, called “harassment--out and out harassment.” One of the charges, Harrold said, was “possession of contraband” for having too many pairs of socks, a violation of jail rules.

Sheriff’s Lt. Richard J. Olson said the decision to put Maniscalco in the observation cell was made by county doctors, not the Sheriff’s Department. He referred all questions to the county Health Care Agency.

Olson said he was unaware of the disciplinary citations given Maniscalco and did not know the jail rules regarding socks.

Eileen Walsh, program manager for the correctional services office in the Health Care Agency, also said Maniscalco was placed in the observation cell on a doctor’s orders. She said she could not talk about specifics of his case but added, “We don’t house anyone in the medical housing unit who doesn’t need to be in a medical bed . . . because we’re short of beds as it is.”

Walsh said inmates have the right to refuse medical treatment, but “there would be medical situations in which they could decide not to house somebody where they want to be housed.”

Maniscalco said he was told that he was being moved to a medical cell so that doctors could monitor his diet before he underwent tests for a gall bladder problem he has had for several months.

But in a telephone interview just before he was locked up, Maniscalco charged that the medical concern was “just a ruse to get me in solitary” in retaliation for talking with a Times reporter.

“It’s a matter of them keeping me incommunicado,” he said.

Maniscalco, a former attorney, has been in Orange County Jail for more than four years awaiting trial on charges stemming from a triple murder. He was quoted Tuesday in an article about a petition signed by 62 Latino prisoners requesting that they be served more Mexican-style food.

Sheriff’s officials denied the request, saying that they were not legally required to provide a special diet and that chili peppers might be a security problem because they could be stuck in a deputy’s eye.

Maniscalco prepared and submitted the petition about two weeks ago.

Other Complaints

Maniscalco has also complained in writing to jail officials about their bookkeeping on the Inmate Welfare Fund, an account for profits from the jail commissary that is to be spent on the inmates for things like magazine subscriptions or leisure activities.

And earlier this year, Maniscalco compiled about 30 written statements from inmates who said they had been beaten by sheriff’s deputies. A special consultant to the county said in a subsequent report that the deputies have used excessive force but that the jail did not have a brutality problem.

The same report said the sheriff’s deputies should reduce the number of disciplinary citations they give for “minor infractions” because they contribute to tension at the jail.

Jail inmate Daniel M. Duffy said Maniscalco’s transfer to the medical cell was handled in an unusual way.

“Normally, they would inform the person over the (public address system) that he was being transferred to medical and to roll it up,” or gather his belongings, Duffy said.

In Maniscalco’s case, however, all the inmates in the vicinity of his cell were locked up, and five deputies appeared to escort Maniscalco to the medical ward.

‘A Show of Force’

“Usually when they lock the whole tier down it’s for purposes of taking somebody to the hole (solitary confinement),” said Duffy, who is awaiting trial in the same case as Maniscalco. “They just wanted to make a show of force.”

Harrold said she was talking to Sheriff’s Department officials Tuesday, trying to have Maniscalco returned to the main jail. She said he is being kept locked in a cell with no bars, just a window in the door.

She said that his meals were to be served to him in his cell rather than the chow hall and that she did not believe that he would have recreational privileges.

Harrold said her client was being harassed “because he is exercising his right to speak out on what is wrong.”

She said she is planning to seek a judge’s order allowing her to represent Maniscalco in jail hearings about the disciplinary citations because the Sheriff’s Department had told her she could not participate in the proceedings. She said the penalties can include loss of exercise time, visiting rights or access to the commissary.