Inmate Used For Taser Practice

[bloodrayne]

Inmate's shock -- Taser practice
Wednesday, February 4, 2004 Posted: 2:46 PM EST (1946 GMT)

SALIDA, Colorado (AP) -- A part-time jailer has been suspended and could face criminal charges for allegedly shocking an inmate with a 50,000-volt electric charge during Taser gun practice.

Scott Glenn, a Chaffee County officer, was placed on administrative leave Tuesday and could be fired, Sheriff Tim Walker said. Prosecutors were investigating.

"It was extremely poor judgment," Walker said. "There's no way a detention officer should ever use an inmate in that capacity."

Thomas Montoya was shocked with a Taser during a sheriff's training class on Oct. 17 as he served an 18-month sentence on a probation violation at the Chaffee County Detention Center in Salida, about 65 miles southwest of Colorado Springs.

"Imagine 50,000 volts traveling through your body. Would it hurt?" said Montoya, 42. The Taser left a burn mark, Montoya said, but caused no other injuries.

Glenn and other employees acknowledged that a Taser gun was used on the inmate but said Montoya asked to be included in the class and left uninjured and smiling, Walker said.

"They assumed it wasn't a big deal. It was a big deal," Walker said, explaining that officers and deputies also practiced using the Taser on one another to "experience the incapacitating voltage it administers."

Walker, who has contacted prosecutors, said Glenn or others could face criminal charges if Montoya was an unwilling participant.

Glenn has worked at the jail for about six months, Walker said.