WEST HAVEN — Department of Correction Ombuds DeVaughn Ward called a video showing the death of J’Allen Jones at the hands of staff at Garner Correctional Institution “every bit as heinous” as the death of George Floyd.
The comments, made to students at University of New Haven on Nov. 13, came shortly before attorneys for Jones’s estate filed an objection with the court opposing redactions to the video that they say obscure the “punches and blows” and the physical restraint by staff that caused Jones’ death.
Ward was part of panel with civil rights attorney Alex Taubes and CT Examiner staff invited to discuss the case with journalism and criminal justice classes at the university. Ward said he was one of few people to view the footage unedited.
“The video is every bit as heinous, every bit as shocking as what we witnessed with George Floyd,” Ward told students. “You, in real time, are watching somebody having their lives taken from them … slowly. It is excruciating to watch.”
Jones, a Black 31-year old man diagnosed with schizophrenia, was serving a 10-year sentence for armed robbery at Garner.
Jones died while being struck, hooded, stripped, placed in full body restraints, pepper sprayed and sedated during his transfer to another cell in the prison by as many as nine staff. Jones was later pronounced dead on March 25, 2018 at Danbury Hospital, and his death was later ruled a homicide.
Jones’s estate filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2018 against the nine correction staff, who are represented by the Office of Attorney General William Tong. None of the staff were criminally charged in the case.
For years, the Office of the Attorney General has opposed releasing the video to the public.
Attorneys representing Jones’s estate, Ron Murphy, Paul Spinella and Peter White, along with prison reform advocates, the Connecticut American Civil Liberties Union, CT Examiner and Ward, advocated for the video’s release — a request that was granted last month by Superior Court Judge Claudia Baio after the Department of Correction made limited redactions.
Ward, who had previously testified in favor of the video’s release in court, said that he believes the video will be one of the most “heart-wrenching” things that the state has been through in decades.
“The entire time this incident is occurring these officers are saying ‘We’re doing this for your own safety, to protect you from yourself,’’’ Ward said. “And they killed him. They killed him.”
Ward said what also struck him was the evident shock on the faces of correction staff once they realized that Jones had died after they had beaten, maced and held him down with the full weight of their bodies.
He described the moment after as a “quiet wash of grief” that filled the room.
Ward told students that Gov. Ned Lamont had tasked him as ombudsman with developing recommendations for how state employees handle similar situations in the future.
“It’s so important that we as a state view this. I think it’s very important that we as society view this so we can have a better understanding of what the realities of incarceration really are,” he said.
Contesting the court order
Last month, Judge Claudia Baio ordered the video released with redactions that were necessary for the security of Garner Correctional Institution and to blur Jones’s genitalia. The redacted video would then replace the original video in the court record.
But attorneys for Jones’s estate have filed motions to contest parts of that order and to object to redactions made by the Department of Correction.
They asked that the unedited video remain part of the court record for a motion of summary judgment and in case of an appeal. If this is denied by the judge, attorneys have asked that the court modify its decision to blur Jones’s genitalia.
“The unfortunate reality,” attorneys argued, is that the unredacted video, which shows Jones before he became unconscious, is “essential” to establish their claims of excessive force.
“Moreover, J’Allen being naked is essential to understanding J’Allen’s conduct and what he experienced after he was forced to undergo a strip search and ended up exposed, humiliated, and vulnerable with the defendants’ hands all over his naked body while they forcibly held him face down on the bunk,” the attorneys argued in their motion.
Attorneys for Jones’s estate also objected to redactions made by the Department of Correction claiming that “blurring dots” in the video not only obscure Jones’s genitalia, but also at times obscure correction staff’s hands and actions, including “punches and blows” and their restraint of him with the full weight of their bodies that resulted in his death.
Neither attorneys for Jones’s estate nor the Attorney General’s office had asked for Jones’s genitalia to be blurred out, the motion states. Attorneys argued that the right to protect Jones’s personal dignity is the estate’s.