SAN JOSE — In her first interview since arresting three correctional deputies for allegedly beating a mentally ill inmate to death, Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said Wednesday internal investigations may ensnare more jailers, with two more officers placed on leave and perhaps 100 inmate complaints now under review.
Eight correctional deputies now have been removed from the job since inmate Michael Tyree was found in his jail cell Aug. 26, bleeding to death from internal injuries. They include the three guards charged with his murder and three others previously reported by this newspaper, whom a source in the union camp said are accused of exchanging racist texts. Smith declined to say what the two others are in trouble for, but said it did not involve excessive force against inmates.
However, in a sign that the alleged brutality by correctional officers may be go beyond the three officers, Smith told this newspaper that as many as 100 complaints — for use of force or otherwise — filed after Tyree died are under investigation.
The department has taken several extraordinary steps in the course of the investigation, Smith disclosed, including bringing in retired internal affairs deputies to examine use-of-force grievances filed by inmates both before and after Tyree died.
“We have to follow everything. We have to be relentless,” Smith said. “Will it result in more bad views of the Sheriff’s Office? Yes, but it’s something we have to do. … We’re looking at everything we’ve had in the past, we’re looking for patterns. We’re also looking back at the people who have come up to our attention.”
Smith also said Wednesday she is moving key investigators out of the sheriff’s headquarters on Younger Avenue to an off-site location because of the sensitivity of the probes and the likely widening footprint. Some of the investigations had been launched before Tyree’s death, she said, declining to specify what the department was looking into.
But Smith also took pains Wednesday to note that most of the nearly 800 correctional deputies in the jails are hardworking and worthy of the public’s trust, saying that if they did nothing wrong, “they have nothing to worry about.”
The president of the county chapter of the Santa Clara County Correctional Peace Officers Association, Lance Scimeca, declined to comment Wednesday. Scimeca is one of the three officers placed on leave in connection with a separate investigation that purportedly uncovered the illicit text messages. Before he was put on leave, he posted a video on YouTube blasting Smith for conducting a witch hunt and urging officers not to turn over their cell phones to investigators.
All of the eight correctional deputies removed from the job are on paid leave, Smith said.
Smith, whose office took over control of the jails from an independently run county Department of Correction five years ago, reiterated in the interview that she is open to civilian oversight of the department, including an independent auditor.
The broad scope of the investigation drew praise Wednesday from the lawyer who represents Tyree’s relatives, who have not filed a claim against the county yet.
“I completely support the efforts Sheriff Smith is undertaking to fully investigate the inner workings and goings-on in the county correctional system,” lawyer Paula Canny said, “and her willingness to address any shortcomings and deficiencies.”
Contact Tracey Kaplan at 408-278-3482. Follow her at Twitter.com/tkaplanreport. Contact Robert Salonga at 408-920-5002. Follow him at Twitter.com/robertsalonga.
