By Jim Hannah
The Cincinnati Enquirer

FALMOUTH - Grant County Jailer Steve Kellam has been summoned today to an emergency meeting of Pendleton Fiscal Court after a third Northern Kentucky resident filed a federal lawsuit claiming he was assaulted in the jail.

IF YOU GO

What: Special meeting of the Pendleton Fiscal Court. When: 4 p.m. Where: Pendleton County Courthouse, 233 Main St., Falmouth. Why: To discuss allegations of misconduct at the Grant County Detention Center, which also serves Pendleton County.

"I'm very concerned about Pendleton County prisoners being housed in the Grant County jail," said Pendleton County Judge-executive Henry Bertram. "We will ask for assurances that steps have been taken to make sure our prisoners are safe."

At stake for Grant County is a $182,500 per year contract to house Pendleton County prisoners that is due to be renewed in July. The 300-bed Grant County jail is operated by the elected Grant County jailer but has housed Pendleton County residents since the Pendleton jail was closed in 2000.

"If Fiscal Court does not hear those assurances, I don't know they would sign the new contract," Bertram said.

Kellam has referred all questions about jail misconduct to his attorney, Tom Nienaber, who has not returned repeated phone calls from a reporter since Wednesday.

The special meeting of Fiscal Court was called within hours after Todd A. Cox, 36, of Falmouth filed a federal lawsuit against the jail on Thursday.

Cox, a prominent Pendleton County businessman and former high school basketball standout, claims he was assaulted by guards at the jail after being arrested on March 13 on a charge of driving under the influence. The suit alleges guards attacked Cox after he dropped his coat and belt onto the floor instead of into a plastic bag as instructed.

The suit says Cox was handcuffed, dragged out of range of the jail's video camera and repeatedly kicked while lying face-down on the concrete floor.

Cox was then taken to an isolation cell, according to the suit, where for 18 hours he was ridiculed and denied clean clothes or soap.

Cox's attorney, Paul Hill, said that within 24 hours of the alleged incident, Kellam launched an investigation. As part of that inquiry, a videotape taken from the jail's security system was reviewed by Kellam. That videotape was destroyed despite Hill mailing a certified letter to the jail on April 2 asking that it be saved, according to the suit.

"The tape being lost is disturbing," Hill said. "The purpose of such videotapes are to protect and safeguard all individuals incarcerated in the jail from abuse similar to what has occurred here."

The elected county attorney, who prosecuted Cox's driving under the influence case, was so concerned about the allegations that he persuaded a judge to drop all charges against Cox on Tuesday.

Don Wells, the prosecutor, has said that if the alleged beating took place, it was punishment enough. In addition, Wells said he would be concerned about sending Cox back to the same jail if he were ultimately convicted on the DUI charge. Court records indicate that Cox's blood-alcohol concentration was 0.19, more than twice Kentucky's legal limit of 0.08.

Bertram and Wells expressed concern about an 18-year-old Pendleton County resident who recently filed a federal suit against the jail, claiming he was viciously attacked and sexually assaulted by inmates at the jail in February. The 125-pound man was held overnight with convicted felons after being arrested on a traffic violation.

A third suit against the jail was filed May 9 by inmate John Nelson Taylor, 27, of Grant County. He claims jail guards beat him while he was handcuffed, denied him medical treatment and then locked him in an isolation cell to cover up the assault for spilling a cup of juice in his cell.

Taylor, serving time for a drug conviction, has since been transferred to a facility in Bullitt County. His attorney, Don Nageleisen, calls the transfer an act of retaliation because it denies him the opportunity to work on a Grant County road crew and makes it difficult for family members to visit Taylor.

"If I thought another young man would be assaulted in the jail again," Bertram said, "I would put our prisoners in my own home until we could find another facility that had room to take them all."

E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com