PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict has asked the FBI to investigate alleged misconduct between Clallam County jail inmates and correctional staff.
Jail superintendent Ron Sukert vehemently defended his staff against a Bureau of Justice Statistics report that ranked the jail the third-highest among 286 U.S. jails for instances of inmate-reported sexual misconduct by staff.
The anonymous survey, taken between October 2008 and December 2009, showed that 6.1 percent of the 75 imates surveyed were sexually assaulted by staff, and 4.4 percent were victimized by other inmates.
Benedict, who oversees the jail, said he was “blindsided” by the report.
“I’ve requested the FBI come in and do an investigation of the jail,” Benedict said.
“I, as a sheriff, will not tolerate misbehavior by any of the employees.”
The sheriff said he has “serious questions” about the methodology of the survey.
“My gut sense is I think with the sample size or something there was something contaminated in that survey,” he said.
“But I take it serious enough that I’ll open the doors to the FBI and the DOJ [Department of Justice].”
Benedict expects the FBI investigators to arrive in the “next few days” to start an investigation.
Every complaint of misconduct brought by an inmate is investigated by a deputy, Benedict said. A former jail staffer who was found guilty of misconduct 12 years ago served four months in Jefferson County, he recalled.
“We deal with it,” Benedict said, adding that it would have been nice to get immediate feedback about the results from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
