Bagwell sacked, Coslin new
jail Chief
By
Fred Mramor
of the Desert Journal
Sierra
County Jail Administrator Roy Bagwell was notified Monday that his employment
with the county will cease as of Thursday, Aug. 2 (yesterday).
County
Manager Adam Polley’s July 30 letter provided no reason for the dismissal but
informs Bagwell that his is an appointed position and subject to termination at
will.
Not
so, says Bagwell, who seems unwilling to go down without a fight. In his July 31
letter to Polley, Bagwell states that he was not appointed but hired as a
regular, full-time, albeit professional, employee who can be fired only for
cause.
“I
fully expect and indeed demand that you correct this error on your part,”
Bagwell said, adding, “you will be hearing from my legal counsel.”
“I’ll
sue the hell out of them if I can,” Bagwell said in an interview Wednesday.
Bagwell said he wants his job back and a substantial cash settlement as
compensation for stress caused by the firing.
Hired
as jail administrator and emergency management officer last October, Bagwell
said he never got along with Polley or County Attorney Jim Catron.
He
said they wanted to get rid of him because he wouldn’t be their yes man but
that it was probably his objection to Catron’s order last week - that the jail
will no longer accept money in any form, including checks, to release prisoners
on bail or for inmates’ individual accounts - that finally got him fired. (See
NOTICE page 4.)
Bagwell
said the order will violate suspects’ right to be bonded out of jail as soon
as they can provide the money and would force them to use the services of bail
bond agents, costing suspects even more money.
Bagwell
said he would like to have his job back, in part, to prevent persons, especially
jailers, from getting hurt because of the power trips of three individuals (Polley,
Catron and the county’s human resources director) who he said “have zero
experience in operating a detention facility.”
Bagwell
said he is especially concerned about the dangers that could arise from the
jail’s overcrowding situation and broken doors.
“I
think we may be getting confused here,” the county manager said Wednesday in
answer to the charge that he fired Bagwell without cause. “Mr. Bagwell’s
original position was both jail administrator and emergency management officer
and that was changed.”
Polley
said the EMO’s responsibilities were later separated from the jail
administrator’s job and the EMO job was given to another individual.
County
management must have cause to dismiss the EMO but the jail administrator’s job
is at-will and the administrator may be dismissed without cause, Polley said.
Polley
said this week he has hired Jim Coslin as the detention facility’s new
administrator.
Coslin,
a retired state police officer, has over 30 years law enforcement and detention
experience having served four years as Sierra County’s sheriff and as Catron
County’s undersheriff from 1996 to 1998, Polley said.
The
county manager and county attorney also are from Catron County. Bagwell called
them carpetbaggers and said Catron is not only advising the county manager and
commissioners but is actually running Sierra County’s government.
Having
hired Coslin as the new jail administrator, Polley said he will expect guards to
follow the detention facility’s policy manual to the letter.
Polley
said he wants inmates to be fed on a timely basis, to have showers at least
twice a week and be allowed into the jail’s recreational area for fresh air
and sunshine on a timely basis.
“Contrary
to what a lot of people have said, we are not violating anybody’s right to be
released from jail on bond,” Polley said regarding the county’s new policy
of not allowing the jail to accept cash or any negotiable instrument for bail
and inmates’ accounts.
The
new policy was implemented last week following the recent thefts of these funds
amounting to over $1,700 from the jail.
Polley
said he understands that it will cost prisoners more money to use the services
of a bondsman than it would if they can provide their own bail. But he said it
is up to a magistrate judge to determine who will accept the money and that as
things are, the county is not required to take it.
Polley
said since bail bondsmen are available at all hours, suspects will not be
detained any longer than they were before the new policy was implemented.
He
said he doesn’t expect the new policy to be long-term and that the county is
considering other alternatives. Polley said he hopes within two weeks to have a
workable system “that is accountable with detention center employees” and
will allow the jail to accept inmates’ money as it had before.
After
interviewing all jailers but making no arrests, the Sheriff’s Department has
closed the case of the stolen money.
The
county manager reportedly has consulted with the county attorney about
administering polygraph tests to suspected jailers but Polley said Wednesday it
is a legal matter and isn’t comfortable discussing it.
Polley
said he will further consult with the county attorney to see what other steps
can be taken. He said he hopes to find out who stole the money and to prosecute
the thief.
In
hopes of alleviating the jail’s overcrowded conditions, Polley said county
officials are working with the district and magistrate courts and the probation
office to find alternatives to incarceration, such as house arrest. The county
has no authority as to when prisoners are placed in the detention center, he
added.
The
county’s detention facility is equipped with 39 beds. Polley said 45 inmates
were housed at the jail on Monday after seven female inmates were transferred to
a Socorro facility.
“I
want to express some frustration,” Polley said, “in that as soon as we do
something with some inmates, it seems we’re back to square one because the
jail is filled up again.”
Sierra
County Commissioners, having found minor violations in their jail inspection two
weeks ago, plan to conduct a follow-up inspection toward the end of August.
Because
of safety and liability concerns, Polley said he will not allow members of the
press to accompany commissioners on their inspection but, as it is not his wish
to hide the jail’s conditions, offered to provide local media a videotape of
the inspection.
County
commissioners will, according to state law, inspect the jail twice a year and
submit reports of their inspection to the district court.
Although
County Commission Chairman Ralph Gooding and former Commissioner Leo Rivera said
commissioners did inspect the facility sometime in the year 2000, neither can
remember just when they did it.
No
records of commissioners’ jail inspections were found in a search of the
district court’s miscellaneous filings for the years 1999 and 2000.
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