Judge Won’t Hear Inmate’s Request That Shackling End

A Superior Court judge has refused to hear the arguments of an Orange County Jail inmate who had asked the court to stop deputies from shackling sick inmates to their beds in a UCI Medical Center jail ward.

Judge Francisco P. Briseno, in a written decision dated Sept. 16, said the inmate, Thomas F. Maniscalco, “has no individual basis” to complain about the shackling because he had not himself been shackled.

Briseno also refused a request by Maniscalco for an order barring deputies from disciplining inmates who wear less than full jail uniforms in the jail dayroom.

Maniscalco, a lawyer who is awaiting trial on triple murder charges, said he received a copy of Briseno’s decision this week. He said in a telephone interview from the jail that he would take the ruling to the 4th District Court of Appeal.

“In my experience, the Orange County Superior Court almost invariably denies writs from inmates without hearing,” Maniscalco said. “Common sense would seem to say that the court should at least listen to the testimony.”

Briseno did not respond to calls to his courtroom. Calls to the Sheriff’s Department were referred to the county counsel’s office.

Lon Watson, an assistant county counsel, said his office could not comment on Briseno’s decision because it had never received court papers in the matter.

Maniscalco filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus with Briseno in July, seeking an immediate stop to the shackling. The petition was filed on behalf of Maniscalco and other current and former inmates, including 41-year-old Donald F. Arbiso, an inmate who died of liver cancer at the medical center while he was comatose and shackled to a bed in a locked, guarded room built specifically for prisoners.

In addition to Arbiso, the petition specifically named Martin Champeau, who was in the hospital ward three days in June with an aggravated ulcer and who was later released from custody. Champeau could not be reached for comment on Briseno’s action.

Briseno said in his written decision that Champeau is the only person named in the petition, besides Arbiso’s estate, which has standing to formally complain about the shackling.

Briseno went on to say that “in reviewing the background of Champeau, the sheriff should take extraordinary security measures.” The judge did not elaborate.

Maniscalco said his personal interest in, and abhorrence of, the shackling stems from the fact that doctors have advised him to have surgery for a gall bladder and intestinal condition. He would have to recuperate in the jail’s prisoner ward at UCI Medical Center and presumably would be shackled under current jail rules.

Maniscalco said he complained about the jail rule requiring inmates to wear full jail-issue uniforms in the dayroom because the uniforms are jumpsuits that can become extremely uncomfortable.

“They are restrictive around the neck, and you can’t raise your arms above shoulder level,” he said. “You have trouble sitting, standing and stooping, and it can be debilitating after you wear them month after month, year after year.”

In a report on conditions inside the jail that was released earlier this year, a consultant noted that the jail imposed sometimes “unnecessary” rules that led to needless tension and disciplinary actions against inmates.

The report specifically mentioned the rule about the uniforms.