PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict has asked the FBI to investigate after a Bureau of Justice Statistics report ranked the Clallam County jail No. 3 among 286 U.S. jails for per-capita instances of inmate-reported sexual misconduct by staff.
Benedict expects the FBI to arrive in the “next few days” to start an investigation.
The results of the anonymous survey, taken between October 2008 and December 2009, were that 6.1 percent of the 75 inmates surveyed were sexually assaulted by staff, and that 4.4 percent were victimized by other inmates.
Benedict, who oversees the jail, said he was “blindsided” by the report when he saw it about a week ago.
“I’ve requested the FBI come in and do an investigation of the jail,” Benedict said.
He later added: “I am confident that this investigation will lead to full exoneration of the professional men and women working in the jail.”
The sheriff said he has “serious questions” about the methodology of the survey information, which was collected by Just Detention International.
“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 seriously enough that I’ll open the door to the FBI and the DOJ [Department of Justice].”
Jail superintendent Ron Sukert vehemently defended his staff against the report.
Sukert described the Bureau of Justice report as “a slap in the face and a kick in the teeth” to jail staff.
“It’s not a pleasant thing to read,” he said.
“It’s not accurate. It bothers me. The professional men and women who work back there don’t deserve this sort of accusation to go unrefuted or unsubstantiated.”
Sukert said there have been two confirmed cases of misconduct in the Clallam County jail in the last 30 years. He said about 75,000 inmates have been in the jail during that span.
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.
“I, as a sheriff, will not tolerate misbehavior by any of the employees.”
Sukert agreed that sample size may have skewed the numbers. The Clallam County jail in Port Angeles has 120 beds compared with the King County jail’s 1,500 beds.
Sukert said the Clallam County jail facilitated the voluntary survey “because we have nothing to hide.”
He added that the mood at the jail was “glum” on Wednesday.
“It is not a pleasant experience,” he said.
“It [the allegations] is something that we take seriously.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
