In the midst of recent public and media criticism over police and jail staff ineptitude, more mistakes result in the second suicide attempt of Robert Ray Hedrick, Jr. 19, on Saturday, January 121, 2003. The first attempt occurred just three days earlier on Wednesday, January 8, when Hedrick attempted to slit his throat and stabbed himself in the neck as he was apprehended by Sheriff's deputies. Hedrick was treated at a Redding hospital then booked into the jail, where the latest gaffe was preventable, except that the jail "classification system" ineptly placed him into the jail population rather than on suicide watch. Three days later he was found hanging with a bed sheet, when his cell mate returned to the cell. 

While the staff response to this latest incident was good time wise, considering the only emergency alert system consists of the inmates screaming, yelling, and kicking doors; when staff arrived they showed their lack of training, or disregard for life-saving protocol, when, being more interested in security than life-saving. They ordered the inmates, who had already rescued Hedrick from hanging before the staff arrival, to stop the CPR they had begun. Jail staff then took the time to lock-down the original CPR givers, who presented no actual security risk, before returning to any consideration of saving Hedrick. Then before restarting CPR, Jail staff took the time to drag the very obese Hedrick out of his jail cell to a common area. This several minute delay between ordering CPR stopped, and then restarting CPR, could have been the difference between life and death, or the amount of brain damage suffered. 

The inmate witnesses, when interviewed, collectively stated the jail officers had an affirmative take charge attitude, but were far too slow in restarting CPR, and when jail medical staff arrived a few minutes later, they had failed to bring the proper equipment, including oxygen. They had to return to medical to fetch the needed items. After this delay, they remained inept, deferring to the correctional staff who tried but didn't know how to operate the medical equipment, and yet did not yield and let medical staff take over. Real medical attention began 10 to 15 minutes later when the Redding Fire Department and ambulance crews arrived. 

The original inmate CPR provider, Moshe Stein, was outraged at being ordered to stop SPR by someone other than a medical doctor. Particularly when CPR protocol provides for switching providers--but not stopping completely for several minutes. 

This is just the latest bungle from a department rife with error. Some other suicide attempts this writer is aware of: On June 1, 2002, Jerry Don Evans, 42, attempted suicide after another jail classification fumble placed him into jail population following three previous suicide attempts. On June 6, 2002, Tim Landsdale attempted suicide--not his first try. On June 13, 2002, Josh Anderson cut his wrists in a suicide attempt. The highly publicized suicide of Benjamin Matthew Williams occurred on November 17, 2002. 

Other procedural problems and inadequacies caused: The escape of Danny Enquist on June 6, 2002, when he simply walked out the front door. On June 22, 2002, the infamous synagogue bomber Ben Williams, along with Paul Gordon Smith, Jr., specifically targeted Jewish guard Timothy Renault, and nearly beat him to death with a homemade weapon. The alleged beating of Dusty Lane Rhoads, 40, by jail officers on June 12, 2002, and their failure to provide medical treatment until his attorney got involved. This following the pepper spraying of Rhoads 20 month old baby daughter, Faith, by Shasta County District Attorney Special Investigators. The December 7, 2002, strip search of an entire "POD" of male inmates, during a regular laundry exchange, with a female officer and two female inmate laundry workers also present in the "POD." On December 27, 2002, Deputy Robert Sandbloom was shot by Edward Knowles, 44, while he was handcuffed in the back of Sandbloom's patrol car along with Jeremy Ross Ivey, 26. The Tuesday, January 6, 2003, wrongful release of Chad Garrett Smith, 23, instead of Doug Smith because the deputy failed to identify the proper inmate and check his I.D. wristband. 

And on a related note, the alleged beating of Otto Laverne Smalley, 37, by Redding Police Department Officers on December 5, 2002, where a Dr. Hicks at Redding Medical supposedly cleared Smalley for jail booking after a superficial examination failed to find his broken bones and other injuries. The Shasta Jail then took several more days before providing medical treatment. 

Present and former jail inmates claim these are just the top of the iceberg of problems in Shasta County.