By now you’ve probably seen the videotape of SLO County Jail inmate Andrew Chaylon Holland‘s Jan. 22, 2017, death after being strapped into a restraint chair for 46 hours straight. It ain’t pretty. Some deputies can be seen laughing as a naked Holland writhes on the floor, dying. They literally just watched the man breathe his last breath. Is that amusing?
Worse still, the videotape proves that SLO County Sheriff Ian Parkinson bald-face lied about what happened to Holland. He lied about deputies finding Holland “unresponsive.” He lied about Holland being under constant medical care during his confinement in the restraint chair. Parkinson is a liar. Period. Not only did he lie—the county supported that lie. Now, Parkinson is trying to deflect his department’s culpability in Holland’s death and blame other county departments.
Did you really think the public wouldn’t find out? Shame on the county for denying media—and therefore, the public—access to that video! Kudos to the SLO Tribune for obtaining it and releasing it!
In a 491-word statement released on the department’s Facebook page (guess it wouldn’t fit on the 280-word Twitter account), Parkinson tried to transfer the blame to SLO County Behavioral Health.
“The mental health department refused to accept him, claiming that they were at ‘capacity,'” Parkinson wrote. “It was later determined that their claim was untrue and mental health could have taken custody of Mr. Holland for treatment.”
Is that your excuse for torturing a mentally ill man to death? That another department could have taken him? Guess what? They didn’t! He was under your care! You are responsible for his death!
Parkinson goes on to claim his department followed the rules of restraint, to which I say whoopty frickin’ doo! Your “rules” killed a man. Did the rules also say your deputies should stand around and laugh as Holland died? That they should mock his mental illness?
“In accordance with the rules, the entire process was videotaped,” Parkinson wrote, and thank God for that because otherwise the only account we’d have of what happened was Parkinson’s bullshit narrative.
Parkinson also blamed mental health for not sedating Holland: “The Sheriff’s Office does not have the legal authority to involuntarily sedate an inmate. The mental health department refused to classify this situation as ‘an emergency,’ which would have permitted involuntary sedation.”
Are sedation and complete immobility really the only two options available? Your department’s response to Holland’s mental health crisis was to strap him naked to a chair for so long that it caused a blood clot—which traveled to his lung once he was finally able to move freely, resulting in a deadly pulmonary embolism.
The coup de grace to Parkinson’s deflection and finger pointing is that the $5 million settlement that went to Holland’s family came from county mental health’s medical malpractice insurance. Rather than exonerating the county jail, it simply proves the jail is indeed part of the mental health care system in the county, and that the county was at fault in his death.
“The buck stops with Ian Parkinson, whether he likes that or not,” SLO Democratic Party Chair Rosemary Wrenn said in a press release calling for Parkinson’s resignation. “Sheriff Parkinson has lost the public’s trust, and he’s demonstrated a lack of character by denying any responsibility or showing any compassion toward the Holland family or thousands of other county residents whose lives are affected every day by mental illness.”
Public outcry has been deafening from the get-go, but since the tape came out, anger has ramped up. Between March 17 and 19, 23 people took two-hour shifts sitting in a makeshift “restraint chair” in front of the SLO County Courthouse for 46 hours. On March 20, during the regularly scheduled SLO County Board of Supervisors meeting, a group of more than a dozen protestors shut down the meeting when the group, carrying a man on a stretcher and an “I am Andrew Holland” banner, refused to leave the chambers.
After calling for a 10-minute recess, which didn’t dispel protestors, Board Chairman John Peschong adjourned the meeting until 1:30 p.m. The protestors eventually filed out chanting, “How do you spell guilty? I-A-N.”
Too many SLO County Jail inmates have died under Parkinson’s care. The FBI continues to investigate alleged civil rights violations in the jail. SLO County District Attorney Dan Dow has refused to investigate. Dow’s done nothing but protect the sheriff, going so far as to castigate The Tribune for a truthful headline that the FBI is investigating the jail. Former medical examiner Dr. Gary Walter ruled Holland’s death “natural.” This has been one grand cover-up from the get-go, and now the truth is out.
But why not admit the truth from the beginning? We would be a year farther into much-needed public reforms at the jail and how it provides health care to inmates. Instead, SLO County is part of the national news cycle. Thanks Sheriff Parkinson, for being a shameful embarrassment.
Anyone who’s seen the video tape knows the sheriff, the supervisor on duty, and the grinning jackals who laughed as Holland died have no business in law enforcement. You should all resign in shame. Δ
The Shredder still wants Ian Parkinson to sit in a restraint chair for 46 hours. Send ideas and comments to shredder@newtimesslo.com
This article appears in Mar 22 – Apr 1, 2018.
And what about Tony Cipolla, the Sheriffs public (mis)information officer? Cipolla was once a trusted local tv news anchor. Nowadays hes simply a Liar for Hire for the sheriffs department. Why should anyone trust him about anything? His credibility is in the toilet. Instead of lying he should learn how to gracefully say no comment rather than continually misleading the public and covering up potential crimes. Our county deserves a public information officer who is independent of the sheriff and works on behalf of the public rather than being a taxpayer-funded propaganda tool for an elected official. Cant trust Tony, a.k.a. Tony Baloney.
This angers me hugely. I am so sick of the hegemonic forces, mostly white males (I know, not all of them), literally getting away with murder, and having the unmitigated gall to laugh about it. Our society is diseased with the lethal combination of authoritarian, narcissistic, white supremacist patriarchy + misogyny + toxic masculinity. These guys gotta go, now, along with the women who blindly follow them, and make way for the future of humanistic, compassionate social constructs.
Right on! And the Clean up must include some way to provide oversight to the county Mental Health, coroner, Jail and DA before we can be confident that every human that comes in contact with tham is treated with compassion. The board os Supervisors must create this oversight. Soon!
Transparency, oversight and truthfulness from public officials are a must in order to enact meaningful reform in our County Jail. Parkinson has violated the public trust by refusing to take responsibility for the excessive number of jail deaths that have occurred under his watch. Parkinson should step down.
I fail to see the reasoning behind sending a mentally ill individual to jail rather than home with family.
What was his CRIME to justify confinement in the first place?
Why his family not permitted to take the ‘prisoner’ home?
No bail?
Why not?
How serious was his crime?
Was he a clear and present danger to the entire community?
Why does the average individual know more about how such mentally ill individuals react to confinement than the individuals managing such confinement?
How isolated from reality are the enforcers so that erratic behavior becomes a joking matter?
What is the thinking of both law enforcement and our Judges that says, “Lock them up, restrain them and worry about it later”?
Disgraceful, until a lasting solution can be found, let’s stop making prisoners of the mentally ill. I don’t mean a few beds costing millions and tightly regulated, I mean mini individual shelters using vacant land with mobile toilets, showers and laundry services. Meals, counseling and health care as well . We can afford to provide basic service is we think affordable and flexible.
Andrew Holland was hog-tied to a chair for 46 hrs, with very very little movement allowed. Blood clots formed, and when he was finally released and moved around some, the clots broke loose and traveled to his lungs and killed him. Jail deputies watched him during this entire time, and did nothing to prevent his death. Thats Homicide folks, when someone dies because of anothers actions. Sheriff Parkinson is trying his best to deflect blame away from him, but he personally ok’d putting him that chair, and left him there to die. He can wank and wank about how “its somebody else’s fault”, but the truth has come out and the video is clear as to what happened.
So what if the FBI clears him? Will you claim it is a giant cover-up? Will you think you have better investigating skills into the matter? Or will you even take time to consider something in between? Pushing for a solution to the problem of our current mental health system is better than rushing to judgment before the FBI has finished their investigation. But then again that might not serve your agenda well…
The FBI maybe investigating the jail. My question is who are they talking to in this investigation? I know they haven’t spoken to the inmates. That there is where the FBI will understand what is really going on in the jail. They are investing civil right violations??? Really??? Who are they asking that of? The deputies? The workers in the jail? The sergeants? Really??? They are not going to get the answers they need from any of them!!! The FBI NEED TO SPEAK WITH ALL THE INMATES!!!! The jail only showed them 1 cell that was actually cleaned. However all those cells are disgusting. They use the same sponge to clean the showers toilets and the table. Ewe that is so NASTY. WOULD YOU EAT AT A TABLE THAT WAS WASHED WITH A SPONGE THAT CLEANED YOUR TOILET AND SHOWER???? NO? SO WHY DO THE INMATES???
THE INMATES GET TREATED WORSE THEN THE ANIMALS AT THE HUMANE SOCIETY!!!
mistreatment, rights violations, and abuses started and were ongoing before Ian took office. As far as I can tell nothing has still been done to stop the institutional unspoken and unwritten policies and procedures that allow for and condone such massive abuses, other than to file a report and issue a press release about hiring extra doctors and mental health providers at the jail. the problem is the abusive guards are the ones in charge of deciding who merits going to see the doctor after inmates put in a “kite” to request a medical appointment, and if they just don’t like the inmate they can decide his request is not merited. What is needed at the county jail level is the same thing they have instituted at the state mental hospital level, install a red telephone that has a direct line to rights’ advocates so that inmates can report acts of abuse and rights violations to an independent entity that investigates through access to records and interviews with those involved, then makes it determination as to whether any abuses or violations have occurred and then have the authority to see to it that those abuses or violations are remedied.