San Francisco Sheriff’s Deputy Ring Pit Fighting Inmates
BY Herschel Smith
9 years, 9 months ago
San Francisco sheriff’s deputy Scott Neu is accused of leading a ring of corrupt jail guards who coerced prisoners into gladiatorial combat with threats of rape and violence.
Neu serves at County Jail No. 4 at 850 Bryant St despite having settled claims that he raped a woman prisoner and two transgendered prisoners while working at the jail. He sports a tattoo reading “850 Mob,” believed to describe the name used by the corrupt deputies to describe themselves. At least four other deputies are implicated in the program of sexualized torture.
The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office had undertaken an investigation into Neu’s behavior, in cooperation with an independent private investigator, and had planned to issue their report only after the prisoners who came forward were released and safe from retaliatory violence. However, Neu had reportedly planned a fresh round of fights, leading to a hasty release of their findings.
Neu and his co-conspirators gambled on the outcome of fights. One fight pitted the smallest inmate in the jail against the largest, and the fighters say they were threatened with rape and beatings by the guards if they didn’t spar. Neu is also said to have coerced prisoners into training for the fights with threats of rape and violence. Neu has a reputation for sadistic practices overall, including making prisoners gamble to receive their food, clothes and comfort items. Even when prisoners won the games Neu forced on them with the red dice and the deck of cards he carried, he would sometimes take away their “winnings” and give them to other prisoners.
The Deputies’ Union attorney Harry Stern claims the Public Defender is making a big deal out of nothing. He says that the prisoners were encouraged to “wrestle to settle disputes about who was stronger,” and were “encouraged” to work out. He dismissed the entire affair as “little more than horseplay.”
Gosh, I just hate it when that happens to me. I remember the last time I forced men to fight at gunpoint in order to eat. But I didn’t have that awesome Deputy’s union to help convince people it was all just in good fun.
On March 30, 2015 at 1:38 pm, Archer said:
The article makes it sound like that deputy worked in a womens’ correctional facility. He was forcing women to fight, on penalty of sexual violence and sadism, in order to eat.
On March 30, 2015 at 1:51 pm, Herschel Smith said:
Good point. But … bah! It’s all just good fun, yes it is! God bless the union!
On April 5, 2015 at 10:01 pm, BigJohn2 said:
I hope they find this deputy guilty. Sad and I thought we only seen this type of crap on TV. These people serving time deserve it, but are also human beings too. And – this country spreads the crap about human rights to the world but has people doing things like this. We need more checks and balances in our prison system for sure.