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Announcement :: Civil & Human Rights |
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Vigil For Quentin Larry and Terrell Layfield - Saturday, July 22, 8 PM |
Current rating: 0 |
by Brian Dolinar
Email: briandolinar (nospam) gmail.com (verified) |
14 Jul 2006
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On Saturday, July 22 at 8 p.m. a vigil will be held for Quentin Larry, Terrell Layfield, and others who have died while in police custody at the Champaign County jail. Bring a candle and meet us at 204 E. Main, downtown Urbana, in front of the Champaign County Sheriff's office.
This vigil is first to honor the individuals and their families. Secondly, it is a call for an independent investigation into the five deaths that have occurred within the past two years. We plan to go to the Champaign County Board with the demand that an independent investigation be conducted into all five deaths. |
Public concern arose in 2004 when three suicides occurred within six months. IMC reporters made contact with Twymenia Layfield, the wife of Terrell Layfield, the last of the three alleged suicides. It was through conversations with Mrs. Layfield that they found out about the restrictive and arbitrary visitation rules, as well as the high cost of phone calls from the Champaign County jail. After these were exposed, Sheriff Walsh allowed for more than the cut off number of fifty visitations. Sandra Ahten and Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice successfully rallied to get the County Board to renegotiate a contract awarding $14,000 a month kickback to a phone company.
IMC reporters accompanied Mrs. Layfield to the coroner's inquest and all left feeling they had not been given a full explanation of Terell's death. The public hearing involved Urbana officer Mike Metzler giving an account of the alleged suicide. No evidence was presented, no photographs, no bed sheet claimed he used. No witnesses testified, not the officer who found the body. The matter was quickly settled in under ten minutes.
This coroner's inquest was the culmination of an investigation that was far from independent. The Urbana police force was assigned to investigate the Champaign County jail. In a small town such as Urbana-Champaign, the authorities are a small circle of friends who know one another on a first name basis and have lunch together.
From the beginning, the Sheriff could not start his investigation until the Champaign County State's Attorney determined that no criminal charges were to be filed. If the Sheriff was to be sued, State's Attorney Julia Reitz would be his lawyer. In this scenario, as Sandra Ahten writes, “the State's Attorney would be both prosecution and defense” (ucimc.org 2/11/2005).
An independent investigation into the five deaths is the final piece in the puzzle to find out what is going on in the Champaign County jail. The repeated incidents suggest that these deaths are not “accidental” but systemic and procedural. In the words of Mrs. Layfield, “In my opinion, suicides are not only the fault of the jail system, but also the justice system.”
To police officers, jail guards, lawyers, and judges, inmates are not people who have loved ones, wives, and children. Terrell Layfield was charged with cocaine possession. He took it to trial and was found innocent. Yet he was found guilty on the trivial charge of obstruction of justice for lying to the police about his name. The heavy sentence of more than five years given by Judge Heidi Ladd should be seen as retribution for his beating the drug charges and lying to an officer. Layfield was obviously distraught about the long sentence. When he was denied a routine phone call to his wife, he became upset and began to make noise in his cell. He was not responded to for several hours. Committing suicide was his final act of protest against an unfair justice system.
According to the Department of Justice, drug offenders were found to have the lowest suicide and homicide rates of all inmates. Terrell Layfield was not suicidal before he entered the Champaign County jail. The inhumane condition in our jails and prisons do not correct, but only create more death and destruction. Those who administer justice become jaded and themselves become dehumanized. In the courtroom, Judge Heidi Ladd said Layfield received several years because he was “living like a bum.”
On the ucimc.org web site, Mrs. Layfield responded to these comments saying Terrell was also a father, husband, friend, and son. She blamed the authorities who failed to take the first suicides seriously, “What did they change to prevent this from happening again to me – it seems nothing!” Her words were prophetic. While steps have been taken by Sheriff Walsh, not enough has been done to prevent two more deaths in the jail. How many more before we have a restoration of the public trust?
The individuals and their families are the real victims in this country's War on Drugs. Quentin Larry, who died of a heart attack the Sheriff is calling drug-related, is the latest victim. Larry died over Memorial Day weekend and his case is still under investigation. The City of Champaign police have been assigned to investigate this incident, another inside job.
The families of Quentin Larry and Terrell Layfield are supporting this vigil and asking for a full explanation of the death of their loved ones. Join us on July 22 at 8 p.m. in front of the Sheriff's office, 204 E. Main Street, downtown Urbana.
This vigil is being sponsored by the Urban League of Champaign County, Champaign Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice, Visionaries Educating Youth and Adults (VEYA), and Anti-War, Anti-Racism Effort (AWARE). For more information see the June issue of the Public i.
Join us for the IMC Capital Campaign Kickoff afterwards at the Independent Media Center, Broadway and Elm in the old Urbana post office. |
This work is in the public domain |
