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Legal action sought after jail assault County officials say victims in holding-cell fight didn't request medical attention, and the perpetrator was disciplined By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune A Washington man said he plans to file charges against Jackson County because he was assaulted by another inmate while in jail. County officials said they were aware the fight happened, investigated it and punished the instigator. Victims didn't request medical attention or ask to file charges, officers said. Terry Kenneth Wilhite, 58, of Sumner, Wash., said he was slapped by another inmate while in a holding cell and saw others in the cell being assaulted. "I've been hit; I've been violated," he said. Wilhite spent five days in the Jackson County Jail before bailing out after he was arrested on Jan. 7 for driving under the influence of intoxicants. He said he plans to press charges against the man who assaulted him. He also said he will seek legal action against the county because he claimed corrections officers failed to respond to the assaults. Wilhite alleges that Nathan Ray Collins slapped him in the face while the two were alone in a holding cell. Wilhite said he asked Collins what he did to land in jail, and when Collins didn't respond, asked if he beat up his wife or girlfriend. Collins told Wilhite that he went too far and slapped him. Wilhite said he turned his face to the wall and didn't speak to Collins again. Several hours later, Collins assaulted two other men who were placed in the cell, Wilhite said. One man was punched because Collins didn't like comments he made about a local gym, Wilhite said. The other victim reportedly told inmates he was in jail because his two pre-teen daughters told authorities that he molested them. Collins told the man to shut up, then started beating him in the face, stomach and back, Wilhite said. "He hit him so hard you could hear the ribs crack," Wilhite said. Wilhite said Collins then told the man to clean his blood from the floor with the few pieces of toilet paper in the cell. Wilhite said the man had his battered face turned to the wall as deputies transferred inmates in and out of the cell for court appearances. An investigation of the assault was completed earlier this month, and Collins was subjected to disciplinary action, said jail commander Lt. Jim Warren. Victims have the option of filing criminal charges against their attackers, but they usually don't to avoid being labeled a "snitch" by other inmates, he said. While Warren stresses that fights are not common in jail, inmates who admit to being sex offenders put themselves at risk, he said. Fights often are started because someone thinks someone else is a sex offender, said Sgt. Dan Penland, who supervises disciplinary action in the jail. But housing all sentenced sex offenders at the Talent jail as of Jan. 9 could cut down on reports of fighting among inmates, Penland said. Wilhite questioned why Collins was held in a cell with other inmates when he had a violent history. Collins was jailed on Jan. 7 for violating parole conditions of a second-degree assault conviction. Court records show that Collins was convicted of assault charges in 1995 and 1996 and of manufacturing methamphetamine earlier this month. He remained in jail Tuesday. Inmates who have a history of fighting are usually separated from other prisoners as soon as they are lodged, said Penland. However, deputies haven't investigated any assaults involving Collins in the past year, so he wasn't tagged for segregation from other inmates, he added. Wilhite, who said he blew a 1.8 - more than twice the legal blood alcohol level - on an intoxilyzer test, was arrested for DUII in Marion County in 1987.The charges were dismissed. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.