Report: Orange officers keep jobs after death of inmate, 75

All of the Orange County corrections officers who used force against a 75-year-old inmate, who later died of his injuries, will keep their jobs, according to newly released documents.

Details of the investigation were made public Thursday in dozens of pages of an extensive internal affairs report. The records came days after Howard’s family filed a federal lawsuit against Orange County, corrections officers and nursing staff at the jail.

Sgt. Steven Ransom was given a written reprimand and ordered to review policies after investigators say that he didn’t supervise as officers moved William Howard from one cell to another, an internal discipline form shows.

Two other officers, Omar Rosario and Scott Penka, were given counseling after an internal investigation found Howard was left naked in his cell and not given pants for more than four hours, discipline forms show.

The documents state their conduct was “unbecoming to the high ethical standards” to which the jail holds employees.

Howard was arrested in November after he was accused in a stabbing attack against his wife of 47 years, an arrest affidavit shows. He was charged with aggravated battery.

Officers used force against him after he didn’t cooperate as they tried to move him into another cell, internal documents show. Howard’s neck was fractured in the incident, a report states.

The lawsuit by Howard’s family says a mental health counselor at the jail noted he was “very confused, and unable to answer questions in a reality-based manner.”

Internal affairs investigators found that force was warranted against Howard because he wasn’t listening to commands.

At one point, a nurse asked to check on Howard, an officer wouldn’t open his cell because the inmate wasn’t restrained.

After Howard’s injury, he was not evaluated for more than 24 hours by medical staff at the jail, the lawsuit states.

Howard complained of neck and back pain, along with weakness and decreased sensation in his legs, according to notes in his autopsy.

One member of the jail’s nursing staff was fired and two others were reprimanded in the incident for not properly treating Howard, internal reports state.