Head of youth prison removed for using unreasonable force
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) The superintendent at the state's most notorious youth prison is being removed from his post for using unreasonable force against a ward and failing to report the incident, corrections officials said Thursday.
Steve Kruse has been on administrative leave since shortly after the May 27 incident at Stockton's N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility. His appointment as superintendent will be terminated Wednesday.
Kruse's removal adds to turmoil at the facility, which remains under federal investigation. Justice Department spokesman Eric Holland said Thursday an investigation ``is active and ongoing'' into whether the civil rights of wards at the facility are being violated.
The termination was detailed in a quarterly investigative report released Thursday by Matthew Cate, the prison system's independent inspector general. Kruse was not identified by name in the redacted public report, but he was identified as the employee by numerous corrections employees and by previous reports on the incident.
The inspector general found that Kruse grabbed a handcuffed ward's hair and jaw as he was being escorted to another living unit after a fight involving 44 youths at the prison.
Though the ward was struggling with his escorts, and Kruse said he believed he was using reasonable force in line with department policy, investigators concluded the ward was already safely under others' control.
Neither Kruse nor any employees present immediately reported the incident, which Cate said violated use-of-force rules and a new policy intended to break an informal ``code of silence'' to cover up wrongdoing.
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is scheduled to submit on Friday its response to a scathing report this spring by the prison system's independent inspector general.
Further reports are due this fall to a federal judge after national experts found deplorable conditions throughout the youth prison system.
In the interest of timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain occasional typographical errors.