Audrain County inmate charged with assaulting correctional officer

An Audrain County inmate accused of killing another man in jail has now been charged with assault and endangerment of a correctional officer, according to court records.

Ryan Blair was charged with first-degree murder on June 13 after allegedly killing inmate Michael Eisenhauer. A probable cause statement says Blair struck Eisenhauer on the head and beat him to death with his hands and feet.

The Audrain County Sheriff’s Office said that Blair also assaulted officers while he had been removed from his cell for cleaning on June 7, less than a week before Eisenhauer was killed.

According to the probable cause statement, Blair smacked an officer’s hand while the officer was trying to put handcuffs on him. He then tried to headbutt two other officers.

Documents said the officers put leg shackles on him, but Blair scratched an officer’s face during the process.

The documents said Blair was moved to a padded cell while his regular cell was being cleaned. While in the padded cell, the documents said, Blair bit his lip so it would bleed. He then spit the blood on the floor and walls of the cell, along with the camera in the cell.

The probable cause statement said Blair was moved back into the padded cell after a doctor checked his injuries because he spat blood at the officers.

According to documents, he was “upset” after an officer told him a doctor wanted to check him for injuries.

In a previous interview with Blair’s mother, Stephanie Ferrell, ABC 17 News learned Blair suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.

Ferrell said Blair had been on medication for his schizophrenia before he was sent to jail. Once in jail, she said Blair was given $100 a month to purchase medication, but he did not do it.

Blair had been jailed in Audrain County since December on warrants for third-degree assault. Online court records show a judge ordered a mental evaluation in relation to the assault charges.

Blair was let out of the padded cell at some point between June 7 and the fatal encounter June 13.

When asked about a blanket violence policy for inmates in the Audrain County Jail, officials said the jail does not have one.

“Inmate behavior and actions are handled on a case-by-case basis,” Audrain County Sheriff’s Office Maj. James Shrader said in an email to ABC 17 News. “However, several of our policies address inmate behavior and actions.”

According to the Audrain County Sheriff’s Office and Jail Inmate Handbook, “Inmates violating the rules, regulations, and laws will be placed in isolation from one (1) up to thirty (30) days, not to exceed thirty (30) days, depending upon the severity and number of the violation(s), and/or loss of some or all privileges and/or the filing of criminal/civil charges. Violations will be rated as either minor or major.”

The handbook cites “fighting any person” and “threatening a county employee” as class one, or major, violations.

The following may be penalties of a class one violation, according to the handbook:

Disciplinary segregation from the general jail population for up to 30 days. Loss of all or part of any privilege for up to 30 days. May result in a change in classification status.

But the handbook does not address any specific punishments if an inmate assaults an officer.

ABC 17 contacted the Missouri Department of Corrections and learned the total number of inmates in Department of Corrections facilities makes up about 30 percent of Missouri’s total prison population. Corrections spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said that amounts to about 9,000 inmates.

Pojmann said about 18 percent of inmates with mental illness are diagnosed with a severe mental illness.

“About half of all assaults on staff are committed by people with mental illness,” Pojmann wrote in an email to ABC 17 News.

Pojmann said the department contracts Corizon Health for medical and mental care, but corrections staff members are provided training on how to deal with inmates who have mental health issues.

She said inmates with mental health issues are also offered “various programs and special housing options.”

Audrain County Sheriff Matt Oller said staff at the Audrain County Jail also receive training on how to deal with inmates with mental health issues.

“Prior to interacting with inmates, staff receive basic training at the time of employment that includes mental health issues in jails. They also receive training from our contracted medical service (Advanced Correctional Healthcare) during the basic training period on medical and mental health issues in jails,” Oller said.

He said some members of the staff are also trained on Crisis Intervention Team protocols. This is a “more comprehensive 40 hour training program that deals specifically with mental health issues in general, but not necessarily in jails.”

But unlike the Department of Corrections, Oller said inmates with mental health issues are not always segregated. He said the decision to segregate inmates depends of several factors, including available space and severity of the illness, as well as the type of behavior they display.

“Actually, the National Institute of Corrections recommends against segregation of inmates who are suspected of self-harming behavior,” Oller said. “Sometimes, an inmate may be intent on carrying out self-harm, or even attempt to carry out self-harm and it becomes necessary to segregate them.”

Oller said that is done to make sure inmates are in a cell with no ligature points or items they can use to hurt themselves.

“We have housed self-harm inmates with other inmates,” Oller said. “The idea is there’s someone there to notify staff and/or help the inmate if they take some substantial self-harm action. Again, that depends on the particular inmate, the type of behavior and the space available.”

But even segregated inmates, as per the handbook policy and legal precedent, are eligible to have a certain amount of recreation and be able to shower and move about.

“There’s not a blanket ‘one size fits all’ answer to the question,” Oller said.

The Boone County Sheriff’s Department was investigating the murder at Audrain County’s request. Boone County Det. Tom O’Sullivan said the investigation has been completed and the files handed over to the Audrain County prosecutor.