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Ex-warden says jail restraint chair use not justified By DANI DODGE A former state prison warden said it was cruel and unusual punishment to put a man suffering from alcohol withdrawal into Jackson County jail's restraint chair. "It would be my opinion .... that 10 hours and 22 minutes in that chair were completely without justification," said George Sullivan. "That's simply abuse of that individual." It was the fourth day of a wrongful death civil case against Jackson County. Jeffrey Stuart Anderson's family claims county jailers used excessive force against Anderson while he was in jail in 1996 and failed to get him timely medical care. Anderson, 33, died as a result of a blood clot in his brain that occurred while he was in jail. An autopsy concluded the cause was a trauma, meaning Anderson's head collided with a blunt object or surface, causing deep internal bleeding. But the county's first witness, Dan Fennell, director of the critical care unit at Providence Medford Medical Center, came to a different conclusion. "(The bleeding) is fairly deep in the brain structure itself and not near the surface," Fennell said. "This is an unusual place for traumatic bleed." When the county's attorney, Robert Cowling, asked Fennell directly if he thought the bleeding was caused by trauma, Fennell replied: "I don't believe it was." He said it could have been an undetected aneurysm and noted that the clotting ability of Anderson's blood was reduced by his alcoholism. "Sometimes it takes no effort; they spontaneously bleed under the skin," Fennell said. Sullivan, former head of the state correctional institution, took the stand shortly after Fennell and not only discussed the chair - used to restrain combative and out-of-control inmates - but demonstrated it for the jury. He helped lower Stephen Yerger, a use-of-force expert, into the low, hard, plastic chair placed temporarily in the middle of the courtroom. Sullivan pulled tight the crisscross straps over Yerger's chest, wrinkling his starched white shirt. Sullivan handcuffed Yerger's hands to the chair. The chair is made with soft restraints for hands and feet, but Jackson County also has added steel handcuffs at the sides, which "is not intended," Sullivan said. Most of the time Anderson was in the chair, he was restrained by steel handcuffs. Yerger, who has given classes to the Salem SWAT team, among many organizations, testified that the county's use-of-force policies were inadequate and ignored when deputies dealt with Anderson in 1996. Deputies decided to restrain Anderson when he suddenly started pounding on the door of his cell and screaming to be let out. One deputy spotted a trickle of blood on his mouth. They went in and, after a struggle, handcuffed Anderson and put him in the restraint chair. Although he had been treated for alcohol withdrawal earlier that day, graveyard shift workers weren't aware of Anderson's medical condition. Yerger said you can't treat a sick person like a healthy one. "That's like saying if someone stole a candy bar that they would be treated the same as someone who killed three people and chopped their heads off," Yerger said. Testimony on Thursday concluded with Anderson's sons, aged 13 and 16, taking the stand. Anthony Anderson, a lanky junior at South Medford High School, read a poem he wrote on the pages of a palm-sized, tear-stained notebook the night his father died. "I would just do anything to see my dad," he read. "He was like my hero and would look out for me and be there whenever I needed him." Several women on the jury were brushing away tears and holding tissues to their noses. An older man removed his glasses to wipe his eyes. Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.