Jackson County discovers four instances of alleged inmate abuse at jail facility, asks FBI to help investigate

The FBI is investigating four incidents of potential inmate abuse at the Jackson County jail.

County officials have invited the FBI to help determine whether the civil rights of four inmates were violated at the hands of a few Jackson County correctional employees.

Joe Piccinini, acting director of the Jackson County Department of Corrections, tells The Pitch that four county corrections employees no longer work for the county.

Piccinini says he became aware of a Fourth of July incident, in which an unnamed inmate was taken to Truman Medical Center with breathing problems. A nurse at the hospital told county officials that the inmate had sustained broken bones. 

A subsequent investigation found that the inmate had been “acting out” and warranted an intervention by night-shift employees of the department’s critical emergency response team. That intervention may have gone too far. 

Piccinini says three other incidents of potential inmate abuse have been identified, occurring in May, June and July.

“Obviously, with an FBI investigation taking place, I can’t get into the particulars of injuries,” Piccinini says. “These range from no injury at all to inappropriate use of force to serious injury, which I’ve already discussed included broken bones.”

The county plans to sign a memorandum of understanding with the FBI today to outline how to proceed with an investigation.

Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders planned to address the Jackson County Legislature on Monday to announce the investigation, as well as the formation of a task force to address conditions at Jackson County jail facilities and training of corrections employees.

That task force will include Lisa Pelofsky, former Kansas City Police Department commissioner; former Kansas City Councilman Alvin Brooks; Mattie Rhodes Center CEO John Fierro; and University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law professor Bill Eckhardt.