Judge won’t free Aryan Brotherhood defendant from ‘filthy, disgusting’ Sacramento jail

Rejecting claims by a Sacramento County Jail inmate that his life is in danger in the jail because of coronavirus, a federal judge on Monday refused to let the inmate await trial in home detention.

Samuel Keeton, who is being held in the jail on federal drug charges connected to a prosecution of Aryan Brotherhood prison gang leaders, had sought permission to be released to home detention because he has asthma and feared that condition could lead to his death if he contracts COVID-19 in the jail.

But U.S. Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan found Keeton remains a flight risk and danger to the community if released, and noted that Keeton had failed in several other bail review hearings to win release.

“I don’t want to minimize your concerns about the COVID-19 virus,” Brennan told Keeton’s attoreny, but added that Keeton’s criminal history requires he remain in the jail.

Keeton’s request came as Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones’ office already has released more than 500 non-violent offenders who had minimal time left on their sentences.

Although the Sheriff’s Office says no inmates have tested positive for coronavirus, the releases have freed up space in the Main Jail downtown and the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center near Elk Grove to allow for isolation of inmates who may test positive.

Lawyers’ views of Keeton differ greatly

Keeton’s case falls outside the category of the inmates who already won release. He is part of a massive racketeering prosecution of prison gang leaders accused of ordering murders inside and outside of prisons and running drug- and cellphone-smuggling operations in prisons throughout California.

But there is great disparity between how prosecutors and Keeton’s attorney view the 41-year-old inmate.

“Samuel Keeton is a career criminal indicted for substantial drug trafficking crimes committed on behalf of the criminal enterprise known as the Aryan Brotherhood,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hitt wrote in court filings. “The charges in this case carry a presumption that Keeton cannot follow conditions of release and he is a threat to the safety of the community.”

Prosecutors say a midnight raid of the Aryan Brotherhood defendants’ cells by sheriff’s deputies on March 11 was prompted by the discovery that a padlock on one of their cells had been tampered with, and that in Keeton’s cell deputies “discovered that he had pulled the light fixture away from the wall and, on the concrete in his cell, there were tool marks consistent with him attempting to loosen the screws within the light fixture.”

Since being booked into the jail last June, prosecutors say, deputies have found plastic rivets and elastic string in his cell that could be used “to make a rope or line for moving contraband or communications” from one cell to another and overheard Keeton conspiring with co-defendant Jason Corbett to smuggle in a cellphone.

Keeton defense attorney David Fischer disputes such characterizations of his client, arguing in court filings that Keeton “is not a ‘career criminal’” and that his criminal history dates to his 20s, when he had a drug problem and was sent to prison for car theft and other crimes, and a later prison commitment for a “two-minute botched burglary of a drug dealer.”

Fischer added that after Keeton’s arrest pretrial services recommended he be released on $50,000 bond.

Inmate’s health is the focus of request

But the primary focus of Monday’s hearing was whether Keeton’s health is imperiled by conditions at the jail, where as recently as Saturday he received pills from medical staff not wearing gloves.

“The jail is a filthy and disgusting place, where they’re not using proper sanitation,” Fischer told Brennan. “He is going to get sick if he remains there.”

Fisher said Keeton has “a severe lung disease” and would be safer on home arrest wearing monitoring devices.

But Hitt disagreed, saying, “I would dispute the ‘filthy, disgusting’ description used by Mr. Fischer and them not taking proper precautions. There’s no evidence to support these allegations.”

Brennan said he did not want to minimize the threat COVID-19 presents, but added that if Keeton believes he is not receiving proper medical care in the jail he is free to file a civil suit against sheriff’s officials’ Main Jail.”

Sheriff’s officials, who have been criticized by public defenders who claim the jail is unsafe for them to visit their clients in person, have disputed such characterizations, saying the jails’ visiting booths for attorneys are sanitized daily.

“There’s more danger in walking to the grocery store down the street than a sanitized, confidential booth at the jail,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Tess Deterding said Friday.

This story was originally published March 30, 2020 at 3:08 PM.