Justice for Ta’Neasha

Dear Commissioners,

Members of your jail sat around, watched and did nothing as Ta’Neasha Chappell slowly and painfully began to die right in front of them.

For hours upon hours, Ta’Neasha  begged for help as she continued to vomit blood, defecate herself and fall to the ground when she tried to stand. Ta’Neasha became jaundiced and ultimately lost her ability to speak coherently.

Meanwhile, members of your jail refused to help Ta’Neasha. Ranking officers accused her of faking. Ta’Neasha was told she could just lie on the concrete and suffer. The jail nurse, who is an LPN and lacks proper credentials to be playing the role of medical director within the jail, also refused to assess Ta’Neasha on multiple occasions.

Ta’Neasha died due to the unwillingness of several jail officers to help her. Yet all of these officers still have their jobs and their badges.

Are these the types of people that your jail recruits? Are these the types of people that the county strives to have working with inmates? If so, shame on you and your local government. If not, fire these officers and fire the jail nurse.

Those who should be fired immediately, at a minimum, are:

• Ed Rutan
• Tami Baxter
• Clayton Banister
• Ryah Smith
• Mark Reynolds
• Wendy Boshears

Each of these individuals showed a blatant disregard for Ta’Neasha’s needs, her rights and her overall health and safety.

I am calling for immediate termination of each of these individuals.

I am also calling for a comprehensive, outside and independent audit of your sheriff’s department. There is clearly a systemic problem amongst your officers with training, assessment, culture and development.