Mike Newcastle an inmate at the Ely State Prison is finding no takers in his effort to sue the institution for allegedly torturing him after he assaulted and wounded a guard.
According to confidential sources despite video of part of the alleged assault as well as testimony from a former ESP civilian manager no attorney Newcastle has contacted has agreed to take the case.
The video of the “torture” was shown during Newcastle’s trial last month where he was found guilty of assaulting a guard with a deadly weapon. Part of Newcastle’s defense was to alleged that he had been mishandled by the prison correctional staff after the assault occurred.
The videos as well as the rest of the trial are now being webcast on www.coyote-tv, the High Desert Advocate website.
A list of the “torture” incidents on the 19 clips are as follows:
Part 5
At about 17:00 direct examination: Mike Newcastle shown screaming, three guards ‘on his cuffs’, jacked up by the 3rd guard and begging to stop. Being transported to building 9.
Face is shoved into brick wall when Roundy is brought by and their paths cross. Whenever the 3rd guard lets go of Mike’s cuffs, he is silent. Trial date is 10/15/13. Mike Newcastle completely silent as he collapses in silence visitation room with video camera on him. Lt Drummond is witness being questioned. Tape goes to about 24:00.
Then Newcastle is searched.
Part 6
During testimony the state implies that Newcastle has faked the screaming and moaning, and that the ‘torture’ was all made up. Lt. Drummond was the guy videotaping all of the drama with Roundy and Mike, who at the time was being accused as the attacker.
11:55 Mike screaming.
49:37 future witness Bill Palcweski is identified in the scene.
51:00 Mike Newcastle being walked out of unit, headed to building 9 (visiting).
52:44 Witness explains Mike Newcastle’s face shoved into rough concrete. Newcastle being grabbed by hair.
55:00 Guard in back let’s go of cuffs and Mike Newcastle is silent.
Part 8
7:00 Wratcheting of the cuffs
Part 19
33:00 Bill Palczewski testimony begins. Palczewski provides testimony that officers were kicking him in the ribs to shut him up, digging their boots into his back to cause pain, and wratching up his cuffs, etc. Palczewski testified not to formally report the incident and that he retired from the prison shortly later.
While disconcerting that line of defense was unsuccessful in winning the acquittal of Newcastle perhaps for one very good reason. Even the most sympathetic juror would have to admit that even if he or she found the treatment of Newcastle repugnant, that manhandling happened after the inmate attacked the guard.
In addition Newcastle’s jurors may not have been all that sympathetic. In motions filed last week, Newcastle attorneys cite interviews with jurors that if true suggest Newcastle was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon simply because he was an inmate at ESP and “had to have been there for a reason”.
“Juror Josie Jensen (“Ms. Jensen”) told defense council that a couple of jurors voiced a belief that Mr. Newcastle was guilty of attempted murder. In addition, Ms. Jensen indicated that there were jurors who voiced that the evidence was insufficient to show that Mr. Newcastle attempted to murder the victim. Finally, Ms. Jensen indicated that during deliberations at one or two of the jurors voiced doubt about Mr. Newcastle’s guilt and that after deliberations, the jury compromised on a verdict of guilty to the alternate charge.
Juror James Nelson (“Mr. Nelson”) told defense counsel that during deliberations he declared that Mr. Newcastle was in prison for a reason; clearly suggesting that Mr. Newcastle was guilty simply because he was incarcerated.” Reads part of the motion.
Ely State Prison is the Maximum Security prison for the state of Nevada and houses what are called the worst of the worst of the Nevada prison population. Not only have most of ESP’s inmates committed some of the most violent crimes in society they have also proven intractable inside the prison system.
Nicknamed the ‘graveyard’ conditions in Ely have been likened to psychological torture. Most inmates are kept in a state of permanent lock down for 23 hours a day with their only human contact a cell mate.
Newcastle himself pled guilty to the 2007 first degree murder of his wife, Shelby Hagedorn Joanette. He was given a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 20 years.
His conviction of battery with a deadly weapon would almost certainly take his parole off the table at least for another decade or longer.
click link for Newcastle’s complaint:
Guilty or not, what was done to Newcastle was criminal. Who is investigating these crimes? Who is policing ESP? Where is the NV ACLU? And with the evidence on tape, the warden herself chatting and laughing just a few feet away while Newcastle is tortured combined with the verbal testimony of an employee, what’s with the cowardly attorneys in Nevada who won’t take the case?? Is the NDOC really that powerful? Are the citizens of Ely, or the attorneys in Nevada truly indifferent to this? I watched the entire trial and the prosecution did not prove its case. Not even close. With the jurors admitting that they convicted because hey, he’s in Ely for a reason? I’m outraged. The laws of the land, like ‘Innocent until proven guilty’, don’t apply on the inside at Ely. And that sits just fine with folks in Nevada. Especially the criminals wearing the badges that dispense justice behind closed doors.
So according to Mike’s lawsuit, the self-appointed jurors and judges at Ely State Prison that took the law into their own hands are as follows:
James Bruffy: Choked him unconscious twice, caused him to vomit and then choked him in his own vomit. Dislocated his jaw, repeatedly kneed him in his face, right eye, and back of the head causing swelling, bruises and abrasions, which were photographed, and caused permanent scars and numbness. All of this while Mike was in full restraints.
Benjamin Kelly: While Mike was in full restraints, Kelly intentionally twisted both of his ankles and battered both knees and his lower back, causing permanent pain and swelling in left ankle and left knee. Also causing a large numb area in the hip and thigh.
Michael Cardinal: While Mike was in full restraints, Cardinal kicked Mike at least 3 times in the ribs. He cut both of his wrists with the handcuffs. Broke his right thumb, injured both index fingers, and for 8 hours, punched and kicked Mike in the back every time the video was turned off for tape changes. This resulted in permanent spasms and swelling in Mike’s upper back, and some cracked ribs.
Paul Hunt: Falsified documents and failed to deliver documents that led to a denial of Mike’s rights.
R. Plumlee: Complete derelict of duty as far as I can tell, and Mike’s rights were trampled on yet again.
Associate Warden Renee Baker: Advised Mike he could file a complaint in writing ‘after he was convicted’. Committed him to the infirmary without cause or explanation for an indefinite period of time. (The infirmary at Ely is dangerous) Denied contact with family and friends via phone calls, visits, etc.
D.W. Neven: More derelict of duty, on purpose, etc. Looked the other way when his officers were breaking rules, abusing Mike’s rights.
Cole Morrow: Ditto.
R. Bannister: Falsifying Mike’s medical records.
Osborne, Ritz, Marshall, Shields, K. Roberson, D.W. Neven and S.L Foster: Denied Mike all authorized property. We’re talking ALL property.
Other stellar employees named in court documents: Ashcraft, L.C. Adams, B. Connett, D.K. Jennings.
Quite the oompetition for employee of the month!! Good grief! Whatever Mike did or didn’t do, these animals are out of control. Who will hold them accountable???? Who is guarding the guards? The prison system in Nevada is morally bankrupt, and Mike’s case is just a tiny drop in a huge ocean of corruption. Somebody with authority or kahunas or both has GOT to wake-up!
Whatever Mike did or didn’t do it is not the place of an employee to judge and it is certainly not the place of an employee to inflict violence on a restrained inmate as a form of personal retribution. How can the actions of employees on a restrained inmate completely ignored and therefore condoned. Is the law of ELY state prison so different than the rest of the country. Our government is set up to have checks and balances why doesn’t the prison system in Ely have the same. Who checks the warden or is it simply a complete dictatorship? Absolutely the question begs accountability. Why won’t a lawyer take up his case… is it too big and out of control system to fight against. Taking this case would certainly be trying to fight against the system and lack of employee control and accountability. Who is ultimately responsible for the actions of the guards?
Of course if someone commits a crime they lose their right and they must bow to the law of the land and subsequently imprisoned. So if that someone happens to be an employee of a state institution taking out anger and frustrating by physically beating and injurying a restrained intmate…must they not also bow to the law of the land as they too committed a crime.
Maybe you personally wouldn’t be so inclined to protect Mr. Newcastle if your husband, brother, uncle, father or son were the correctional officer that was assaulted. Not saying what allegedly occurred afterwards was necessarily right but stop and think about the families that are connected to this. Mr. Newcastle MURDERED his wife and knew the consequences of his actions! Just as he knew the consequences of his actions when he decided to attack an officer! He had no right attacking that officer regardless of the reason! If you have never been a wife of a CO then you don’t know what it’s like to let your husband leave the house everyday praying that his day is uneventful. You have no clue what those men and women do EVERYDAY! Should Mr. Newcastle have been allegedly “assaulted”? no he shouldn’t have but should he have almost killed that CO? should he have taken away a husband, a father and a son? NO he shouldn’t have! regardless if that CO survived Mr. Newcastle took away from him emotionally. So before you go accusing and throwing around the ESP name and it’s employees shut your mouth, open your mind and hearts to those families and think a little about them! They worked in a prison they weren’t incarcerated there!
Well said Brooke Smith, i agree with you.
Torture is illegal! If the officers can’t handle their job without resorting to illegal activities, they need to find a new job. This is disgusting!
Brooke and ‘hi’,
Are you on medication for something? There is nothing ‘alleged’ in the Newcastle case, the torture was proven and on tape. Trying to scale it back as merely ‘alleged’ abuse is pathetic. If you’re going to come to the defense of the monsters who attacked him, at least have the courtesy to acknowledge what was proven and quit hiding behind the word ‘alleged’.
On the other hand, Mr. Newcastle did sign up for a sentence of 20 years to life in prison. Yes. He MURDERED his wife, as you so eloquently put it. But serving time in prison is his sentence. That includes horrible food, banishment from society, family and friends. Arcane and stupid rules, 24/7 lockdown, etc. That’s what Mike signed up for when he made the mistake of murdering his wife. What was NOT part of his sentence was beatings, torture, having his mail stolen, having his civil rights violated, being completely at the mercy of sadistic ‘guards’ backed by a clearly corrupt warden. You seem to think that because he made a mistake, anything done to him during his stay at Ely is justified. Bullshit.
And you’re also full of shit if you think that your hubby is the one in danger as he goes to work each day. Who wears the gun/taser/shield? When they extract a prisoner, why does it take 8-12 of them on 1 inmate? Pray tell Brooke, at what point is YOUR hubby ever in danger with odds like that? In the last 2 months, 7 inmates have died. SEVEN. And the NDOC isn’t talking. How many guards have died this year? Last year? How about the year before that?
Wanna know how many calories a day the NDOC is feeding these guys? Lemme tell you, they don’t have the energy to fight your hubby.
And did you even watch the trial? Did you read the juror’s comments? Mike was proven innocent. The jury convicted as a compromise because some thought him guilty, some thought him innocent. So they compromised to get the hell out and finish the job. Shame on the jurors that believed in his innocence. But not exactly a clear guilty verdict now that all of the juror remarks are out. So think twice about accusing Mike of attacking Mr. Roundy. The evidence screams otherwise, and anyone who saw the trial and still buys into a guilty verdict is either an idiot, or married to someone in the system.
And for the record, my grandfather was murdered and I still feel the same way. I wouldn’t want the woman who took him out to suffer as Mike has suffered and so many at Ely suffer. They should serve time, that’s it. All of the ‘extra’ suffering compliments of the guards, perhaps even your precious hubby, is undeserved and inappropriate. Torture, violating civil rights, running a little ‘country’ within a small town that has no laws, no oversight, no consequences and no morals is frightening as hell. And Ely gets away with it because citizens like YOU Brooke, don’t give a damn about anyone but yourselves. The only difference between the guilty guards at Ely and the inmates (and the warden and Cox and perhaps Gov. Sandoval, who knows how high this goes), is that the inmates are paying for their crimes. Everyone else is committing them with no fear. Shame on you. A human being is a human being. I won’t tell you to shut your mouth, but I do hope you’ll open your eyes to the truth and look beyond your doorstep. As long as people like you condone and tolerate this travesty in your backyard, it will continue. And the blood that spills is on your hands too, Brooke. And hi? Named for being on something perhaps? Ditto to you. You agree with Brooke? Same thing. Standing against torture and standing for inmate rights doesn’t automatically make anyone ‘less sensitive’ to the pain of Mr. Roundy or his family or Mike’s wife or her family. We can be sympathetic to both sides. What’s outrageous is the lack of outrage in Ely among the citizens and legal community at what goes on behind the walls in Ely. There is no law in that prison. None. And that should scare everyone.
Brooke ,
With respect I understand your emotions from a personal view however my concern and the concern of many others is in regards to the law. Newcastle was charged and given a trial and will be held accountable and punished in accordance to the law. However who holds officers that out of anger physically beat a restrianed inmate accountable? The officer does not have the right to pass judgement …especially with thier fists. They too need to respect the law and be held accountable with a trial and judged by jury just as any other person. They are admirable to chose a job that comes witha certain amount of risk however they are NOT above the law. A civil rights lawyer needs to pick up this case and review medical records, video and order mri to see history of healed fractures. This case is about the system itself and ultimately upholding individual rights which this country embraces. No doubt there are good decent caring employees at Ely…..but how can the illegal and emotional actions of those officers on the video be condone by the good employees that care and do their job well. It scares me to think that this prison believes itself above the law turning a blind eye.
How is the guard who beats an inmate any better than the inmate who beats the guard? Actually, the guard is worse because he is abusing his power and is paid by our tax dollars to behave in a professional manner.
Alright,check it out;it wasn’t even an officer that got assaulted in the above incident. He was a free staff who worked in the culinary at ELY STATE PRISON. I was in prison when this incident took place,not only did other prisoners who were in the kitchen when this went down tell me that the officers beat the living fuck out of Newcastle,but I have heard plenty of guards themselves going around bragging about it. There was an article written about this whole incident,I think it was called more brutality at ELY STATE PRISON. It was in the Nevada PRISON newsletter#8. Riots erupted in some of the units directly after this incident,because the kitchen was closed down for over a week and prisoners were forced to eating meals that provided considerably less calories than the already low amount of calories that they were already getting. It felt like all the prisoners were being punished for this one incident.
Newcastle got what he deserved. You picked on the wrong people this time scumbag! I loved hearing how he got the living shit beat out of him! Makes me feel good! Actually real good. I’m smiling. He is the type of scum that deserves a good beating. Much like the one he gave his wife. Rot in that jail cell fuck face and hopefully you get another ass whooping just because!!! Justice is now served! Karma style!!
Brooke and Mateo:
Your comments are “spot on”. This piece of crap wanted to be a badass and got the crap kicked out of him. Now he’s crying “foul” … You can’t have it both ways. The libtards who want to show him compassion don’t realize that this psychotic bastard would do the same to them… He deserves torture for the pain he inflicted on the families of SHELBY and the guard he attacked.. Shelby’s family is still suffering to this day… why shouldn’t he? He needs to pay for his crime and not be coddled. He needs a beating daily!
Miya you said ” That’s what Mike signed up for when he made the mistake of murdering his wife. ”
Sweetie – it was NO MISTAKE. It was coldblooded MURDER. Purposely done. He tracked her down like a wolf tracks it’s prey.
“You seem to think that because he made a mistake, anything done to him during his stay at Ely is justified. Bullshit.”
His stay at Ely is not a retreat. It’s not a vacation. He did NOT make a mistake. He PLANNED and carried out a murder of a woman who left him. A woman who has family that is broken because of this piece of shit. The justice system is too lenient and people like him take advantage of it.
Methinks you are living in lala land. People like YOU who think this was a mistake and think they [criminals] should be shown compassion are what’s wrong in this country. Our prison systems are over-crowded because there are no REAL consequences. Get your head out of your ass.
i need help my husband is there and this is being done to him who do mi go to dianna1675@aol.com