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Show SECTION C The Salt Lake Cribune SUNDAY,March 31, 1996 tah OBITUARIES Page C-8,9 WEATHER Page C-10 Litigious Inmate Finally Has a Lawsuit Barker & Barker is a sign his lawsuit has substance. The overwhelming majority of inmate suits arenot assigned a taxpayer financed attorney in Utah federal court because most complaints are frivolous. court officials said. The leading criterion By Ted Cilwick T LAKE TRIBUNE Sue-happy inmate Richard “Fats Thomas may finally get his day in court. Thomas, a career criminal and ex-FBI informant, has flooded Utah state and federal courts with nearly 50 lawsuits. None of his gripes has ever reached a jury — most are abruptly dismissed as frivolous. By his own account, Thomas. serving 5-to-life for armed robbery, has netted one modest victory: a $2,000 settlement after a jailer in Sanpete County supposedlyroughed him up. But his 1994 federal civil-rights case against Utah prison guards, administra- bulance was used,” accordingtothe eval- tors and medical staff is serious litigation with potential for a sizeable jury award. All it took was for Thomas to be stabbed during a near-fatal attack in his cell at the Utah penitentiary in Draper. On Sept. 25, 1994, the state’s most notori- uatior, which the department is trying to keep from Thomasandhis lawyer, James Barker. The evaluation, writtenby prison clinicaldirector Robert Jones. is impor- tant because Thomas cites the delay in treatmentasthe basis for oneof his law ous prisoner, death-row denizen Ronnie Lee Gardner, allegedly knifed Thomas12 times during a drunken rage suit claims that his constitutional rights wereviolated “The woundswere, in fact, life-threat- An internal Corrections Department ening and the response may have or should have been different than it was Jones testified Moreover, guards and administrators evaluation of the treatment Thomasreceived found “a three-hour delay” in taking him to a hospital. Officials transported him, weak andbleeding, ina car. “The have admitted under oath and in interviews that inmates routinely brew and ER {emergency room] doctor was angry that a [prison] vehicle rather than an am- Limiting the legal maneuvers C5 drink alcoholic mixtures in prison. The acknowledgments are important because another claim in Thomas’ suit specifically accuses the department of being reck- lessly and deliberately indifferent” about inmates and booze. Four hoursafter the assault, Gardner's blood was 0.10% aleo- hol, records show Said deputy director Nick Morgan about aleohol It’s an ongoing problem.” There are other factors supporting Thomas’ case. The merepresenceof his lawyers from for appointing a lawyer is the potential merit of an indigent’s case. So it is an unlikely duopressing a via ble case against the state: Thomas, atire less whiner and headacheto the prison system, and Barker, a savvy ear-old ex-Salt Lake City commissioner and for merassistant Utah attorney general A Life of Crime: Now 42, Thomas has been behind bars for much of his adult life — or on the outside victimizing people, doing dope andviolating parole records show His adult rap sheet shows separatear @ See INMATE, Page C-4 Will Accused Killer, 13, Rewrite Law? Ruling on Court Access Expected to Set Precedent By Vince Horiuchi THESALT LAKE TRIBUNE It took the arrest of a girl accused of killing her mother to throw a wrench into the workings of Utah's juvenile courts After Utah officials made public the juvenile records of 16- and 17-year-old criminals, police arrested and chargedthe girl, making the newpolicy obso- lete. Thegirl is only 13 years old Ironically, New Mexico officials readily revealed the girl's criminal history during the time she had lived there, while Utah authorities could not even utter the accused killer's name. That is because in New Mexico, a juvenile’s crimi- nal records and court hearings are open, regardless of the suspect's age or crime. In Utah, records are open onlyin cases involving —_—_—_____——_ teens 16 or 17 who are MPoliciés nationwide C-3 charged with a felony. —__—_— Courthearings for juve- niles under 16 years old can be opened,only with a judge's permission. On Tuesday, 3rd District Juvenile Court Judge Kimberly wikLaule wi ia will be allowed into court hearings of the girl ac- Photos by Al Hartmann/The Lake Tribune Train Show in Salt LakeCity. You couldn't tell the men from the boysin front of the model-train displays Saturday at the Great American Toy Trains Haven't Yet Crossed the Gender Gap cused of killing her mother Feb. 20 in their West Jordan home. The decision may have a lasting effect on how manyother juvenile proceedings are made public Other juvenile-court judges are expected to use her ruling as a guideline “With the increased number [of young, violent of- fenders], the public is entitled to know,’ said Utah Juvenile Court Administrator John McNamara. “There is nothing secret or magical in being in that courtroom. By. Lili Wright @ Train Show THESALT LAKE TRIBUNE Several times a month, Bob Jensen Utah legislators passed a lawlast year making public criminal records of juveniles age 16 or older, if they are charged with a felony. But some consider the newpolicy outdated because younger children are committing more violent crimes. “We start them reading earlier and [teach] them to explore everything when they're younger,” said The Great American Train Show leaves his meatpacking company behind and becomes a locomotive engineer. runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m, today at Utah State Fairpark, 155 N. 1000 WwW Salt Lake City. Adult tickets His rough handsarelined with grease and sweat. He feels the smoke rush past his face. His soul is free, rocked bythe sweet clickety-clack of a train in motion Never mind that his rig is a toy train Hunter Hurst, director of the National Center for Juvenile Justice in Pittsburgh. “But they're also stealing earlier, smoking earlier, getting pregnant set, the kind that has entranced children earlier.” for generations. Or that the open range is no bigger than a friend's basement ‘It’s a fantasy,” says Jensen, who displayed his train collection at the Great Consequently, more states are unlocking their oncesecretfiles and opening courtroomdoors. But somesaythe courts are caving in to pressure from the public. American Train Showthis weekend at “The population is getting older, and your expectationsfor the state to protect youget higher,’ Hurst said. ‘So our fear of our own children gets exagger- Utah State Fairpark. ‘I have high blood pressure. When I comehere, it all goes cost $5, Children enterfree. Jensen is one of thousands of men na tionwide fascinated bytoy trains. There are model railroaders, who buildrail cars from kits. Toytrain operators buy premade cars and design elaborate sets with trees and corner stores, buffaloes and ranch hands. Garden railroaders bring away @ See TOY TRAINS, Page C-6 = Lf onli oe Train enthusiast Bradley Bates and son, Travis, 2, take a close look at models at the Utah State Fairpark. & See COURT ACCESS, Page C-3 | Cramped Cons HaveBigger Jail But Can’t Move In On an average day, the Utah County Jail has about 60 more inmates than its capacity. The new jail under construction, will have the capacity to house 600 inmates. 275 ByPhil Miller | Inmates (GE Women THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE PROVO — If tension can be atangible substance— BRM Men Jail’s | 1978Original Capacity] 1125 Inmates Ah Gere eeeeeel | | | 75 {go 25 1994 1995 1996 opened in 1978; by continually cannibalizing offices, lunchrooms and storage space, pre- sent capacityis about 190. Wishful thinking. Thanks to rising crime and frustrates all parties: a new and bigger jail It already exists. The mint-condition million behemoth —_158,000-square-foot stands about five miles fromtheIrontonHill site, just inside Spanish Fork city limits. Con jammed freeway of constant motion accomTheir eyes areblank, barely registering the claustrophobic blur of restless traffic; their In East Housing, the eight tiny rooms — patients’ quarters w hen the building houseda edfacility these days, and soon will install the electrical and plumbing systems. Except for occasional walkinto each. throughs, no guards are present; commonar- That's another matter — and the root of Utah County's dilemma matesin absurdly luminous orange jumpsuits pace Ceaselessly along the 50-foot hallway, a struction crews swarmtheinterior of the 600 plishing nothing. many as 290 have crammed the quarters faces manifest identical hollow scow! hospital -—— now have five bunk beds wedged danger cameras, alloweas are monitoredby security each other out of ing inmates to prey upon 1993, the bondissue was limitedto construc ers call East Housing, a second-floor ward of converted offices that serves as a makeshift lockup for criminals deemed theleast dangerous, the best of the worst. The uneasy existence was created, then ex acerbated, by the already crowded jail’s popu. lation explosion. The county’s cells were de- camera range. It’s a zoo upthere all the time,” says Capt Owen Quarnberg, the jail's commander. The AmericanCivil Liberties Union agrees. tion costs. Commissioners figured, why raise taxes to staff the jail before the money was c needed? Here is why: When a second referendum on behalf of two inmates, asking a judge to seeking $2.45 millionto hire additional jailers to staff the huge newbuilding. was heldlast Just another excruciating day in what jail- 50 putes that conditions are unconstitutional, but Sheriff Dave Bateman concedes they are hor. rible. “I’mat the endof myrope over this,” he says. There is a solution to the case that tantalizes rates and an averagestay that has doubled ina decade, about 250felons normally occupy the cramped, crumbling building. Despite Utah County's attempts to reduce the numbers, as and menacing. Like piranhas trapped in a goldfish bowl, they exude anger, frustration 16 0 March of 1982 1985 1988 1991 | Source:Utah County Sheriffs’ Office East Housing Unit It ig locked behind the ordinary-looking, dingy white doors, where several dozen in- Current Design Capacity } 190 Inmates am matter that surrounds, clings, su/f- focates — it exists inside the Utah County 2 BA jail without bars signed to house 125 inmates when the jail and two weeksagofiled suit in federal court limit the numberof occupants in the “harmful and intolerable environment.” The countydis- Thejail will be complete July 17. But open When thecounty put jail fundingto avote in @ See CROWDED, Page C-2 UTAH QUOTES We will never quit until we pass our wilderness bi — Sen. Orrin Hatch, after the controversial bill designating about 2 million acres of Utah wilderness died in Congress n This is a great day for America’s red-rock wilder. ss.” — Mike Matz, head of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, which supports designation of 5.7 million acres te T kindof feel like the TV show ‘Friends’ —alittle ner exposed. — Joe Waldhoitz, on the interest his and his estranged wife’s financial and legal problems have generated sincelast fall ‘It boggles my mindthat conservatives who say they want to stay out of people's lives will go and disrupt tradition, family gatherings at the pool and other events in the name of a standard that [Stewart] decides is right for the city.” — Provo City Councilwoman Shari Holweg after Mayor George Stewart moved to close the city senior-ditizen center $n Sundays |