Violence Continues to Rock Memphis Jail

Larry Graham doesn’t look like a guy who’s easily pushed around: He’s big, muscular and imposing.

But physical stature didn’t help when he landed in Shelby County Jail. He was beaten unconscious in April, he says, for refusing to take part in gladiator-style fights staged by gang members for their own amusement.

“You just don’t buck them. There ain’t nothing you can do, and ain’t nobody going to help you,” said Graham, who is 5-foot-11 and 220 pounds. “I just wanted to do my time and get out.”

With more than 2,600 inmates, the Memphis jail--built in 1981 to house half that many prisoners--is Tennessee’s largest and most notorious.

Critics call it a violent place where prisoners accused of relatively minor offenses are caged with hardened criminals and power and control comes not from jailers but from street gangs like the Gangster Disciples and the Vice Lords.

Hearings Detail Troubles at Lockup

Debates over conditions at the downtown lockup have gone on for years but moved to the front burner during court hearings this fall when current and former inmates described barbaric conditions in excruciating detail.

“It’s cruel and unusual punishment just to be in that jail,” said Robert Hutton, a lawyer who wants the county held in contempt of court for not making the jail safer under a 1997 federal court order; the county argues it is doing all it can and says a resolution remains elusive.

U.S. District Judge Jon McCalla isn’t convinced and even threatened in October to throw the sheriff himself in the jail.

“I can’t fix the jail,” McCalla told Sheriff A.C. Gilless and county Mayor Jim Rout. “But I can make you want to fix it.”

The legal fight has gone on since 1996, when Hutton sued on behalf of an inmate who says he was gang-raped by other prisoners.

In 1997, U.S. District Judge Jerome Turner ordered the county to separate potentially violent inmates from nonviolent ones and to provide better supervision by guards. McCalla took over the case early this year after Turner died of cancer.

One former inmate who was held on a drunk-driving charge testified that his leg was broken in two places when another prisoner in a crowded holding cell attacked him and stole a ring.

Gladiator-Style Fights Organized

Other witnesses described gladiator-type contests called “Thunderdome” in which non-gang inmates were forced to fight. If they refused, they were beaten or left hogtied for long periods.

Graham, 40, said he paid heavily for his refusal to become a gladiator. He said members held him around the neck from behind with a rope made of bedsheets while others beat him senseless with plastic soft drink containers filled with water. After the beating, the attackers took his bloody clothes and washed him off in a shower.

“I kept hoping to see a guard or something,” Graham told McCalla. “But I never did.”

Finally, other inmates managed to flag down a guard and Graham was taken to the hospital. Later, he was placed in protective custody until he pleaded guilty to the cocaine dealing charge that sent him to jail. He’s now serving a three-year sentence at a prison outside Memphis.

Like other court witnesses, Graham said street gangs control day-to-day life in the Memphis jail.

“You use the phone when they want you to use the phone. They decide what you watch on TV,” he said. “Some people want to watch the news or maybe a little movie or something, but the gangsters want to watch music videos. And there ain’t nothing you can do about it.”

Witnesses told McCalla that gang members post written rules telling other inmates what contact they can have with guards or which cells they can occupy. “Thunderdome” winners reportedly are awarded victory belts made from cardboard to resemble TV wrestler belts.

Rout, the county mayor, promises to follow McCalla’s orders, though he points out that running the jail is primarily the sheriff’s job.

The sheriff’s staff refuses to talk about the jail, but Gilless told McCalla he was surprised to hear reports of gang violence.

“Most of what I know has come out of this hearing,” he told the judge last month, refusing to talk with reporters as he left the courthouse.

Graham plans to sue the county because of his beating. He said he has been jailed four or five times before without much trouble from other inmates.

“But these young guys coming in are gangsters,” he said. “I was in a pod with some guys with murder charges. . . . I know I sold some dope, but why should I be in with those guys?”

*

On the Net:

Shelby County Division of Corrections:

https://www.co.shelby.tn.us/county--gov/divisions/corrections/index.htm