The criminal misconduct at the heart of the Daggett County Jail scandal has received serious condemnation from the Attorney General’s Office. The charges were announced on May 5th after an investigation by the Utah Department of Corrections Law Enforcement Bureau and a review of the findings by the Office of the Attorney General. The findings resulted in multiple individuals receiving various charges but the investigation surrounded the actions of former deputy Joshua Cox charged with 9 felony and 2 misdemeanor counts, including Aggravated Assault, Transporting a Dangerous Weapon into the Secure Area of a Correctional Facility, Theft, and Reckless Endangerment. According to the probable cause statement, on August 27th, Cox used a personal Taser in drive stun mode on 5 inmates. The inmates were “promised a case of soda if they could endure the tasing for five seconds.” In a separate incident listed as on or between May 2015 and March 2016, Cox checked out a Taser from the jail controller and gave it to an inmate so the inmate could threaten another inmate who, out of fear, jumped back and hit his head on the control room glass pane. In another incident on or about October 17th, Cox used a Taser as an “initiation” of an inmate in order to keep his outside work privileges. In a final incident, Cox(who is not a certified K9 officer) brought uncertified police K9s into the jail and ordered two inmates to “hold dog training apparatus so he could teach uncertified K9s basic obedience training.” Both inmates were bitten. The investigation also revealed that the X26 Taser used in the incidents was the property of Smithfield Police Department. Cox took the Taser with him upon resigning from that department in early 2016. Attorney General Sean Reyes didn’t mince words on the investigation findings. “The alleged actions of at least one defendant constitute unbelievably inhumane conduct and a reprehensible miscarriage of justice and the actions of all the defendants are inexcusable,” said Reyes. The numerous criminal violations led to the removal of all Utah State inmates from the Daggett County Jail.
