Jail incident requires action

Opinion

October 29, 2009

Anonymous The Goshen News Thu Oct 29, 2009, 10:28 AM EDT

On the plus side, William Scott Roberts is no longer in an Elkhart County correctional facility holding cell. That he was trapped in one for nearly 12 hours remains troubling.

Roberts is a day-reporting inmate with the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Alternative Program and was tasked Saturday with cleaning holding cells for the facility’s courtroom. Here his troubles began.

As he was cleaning the cell, the door closed and Roberts was locked in at approximately 11 a.m. Authorities located Roberts around 10:40 p.m. after someone came to the facility concerned about his whereabouts.

THE EPISODE prompts questions, not the least of which is how Roberts managed to go missing for nearly 12 hours. Suppose no one from outside the facility showed up looking for him What if he was injured, or suffered from a medical condition? Authorities should be grateful the incident is mere embarrassment and not tragedy.

Someone in authority dropped the ball. Yet while the Roberts’ misadventure doesn’t inspire confidence in the Sheriff’s Department, we’re glad the problem was promptly addressed.

SHERIFF’S OFFICIALS launched an internal investigation, and Sheriff Mike Books — to his credit — didn’t mince words afterward.

“The actions that day of my staff are unacceptable,” he said. “Appropriate actions have been taken to ensure, to the best of our ability, a situation such as this does not occur again.”

According to Books, officers and supervisors on the first and second shifts didn’t account for Roberts throughout the day. He also said that necessary disciplinary action has been taken. “Necessary” is too vague, but we trust that the punishment is appropriate.

No operation is perfect. But security and safety must be top priorities at a jail facility. Saturday’s incident is a glaring procedural lapse.

The system has to work better. We commend Sheriff Books and his efforts toward that goal. And if he hasn’t received it yet, Mr. Roberts deserves a very big apology.

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Jail incident requires action

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