March 20, 2014
Carson City, NV - Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, announced that on March 19, 2014, a jury, after a two-day trial, returned a unanimous verdict in favor of the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) and four correctional officers in the federal court case Jackson v. Chenault, et al. (United States District Court case number 3:10-cv-00771-LRH-WGC).
“After hearing all the evidence, the seven-member jury quickly rejected all of Mr. Jackson’s claims and returned a verdict in favor of the NDOC and its correctional officers,” said Masto. “We are grateful for the invaluable and difficult law enforcement assignment they carry out for us on a daily basis.”
Alfonso Jackson, an inmate in custody of the NDOC and housed at the Ely State Prison, Nevada’s only maximum security prison, alleged that on December 10, 2009, four correctional officers used excessive force while removing him from his cell. Mr. Jackson, who had been tearing up shards of floor tiles from his cell and observed eating those tiles, refused to cooperate with the correctional staff and was physically combative when officers were required to enter his cell to secure him for his own safety and the safety of the institution. Mr. Jackson claimed officers used more force than necessary to secure his compliance, an alleged violation of his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
The case was tried in Reno federal court before United States District Court Judge Larry Hicks and handled by Deputy Attorneys General Micheline Fairbank and Nathan Hastings.
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