Footage has emerged of a mentally ill inmate being stunned by Sergeant Mychal Turner with a Taser multiple times after defying an order to stand in his cell in Ohio's Franklin County jail.
In another video, Sgt Turner is seen firing the Taser's electrified barbs into an inmate's chest after he refused to remove a piece of jewellery.
In a third video, he is seen pulling the trigger five times on a handcuffed inmate who would not sit on a bench.
Each incident violated the jail's Taser policy and each was cited in a class-action lawsuit the county settled that accused jail guards of "sadistic" and unconstitutional use of Tasers from 2008 to 2010, court records show.
Yet neither Sgt Turner nor any other deputies were disciplined, according to internal county jail records reviewed by Reuters.
Instead, Sgt Turner was promoted to major. He is now commander of Franklin County Corrections Center II, the largest of the jail's two main facilities.
Reached by phone, Mr Turner declined to comment.
In court documents, he has defended his actions, saying he feared for his safety in some incidents and wanted to avoid potentially dangerous physical struggles in the small confines of a cell.
Jail officials also declined to comment, though the county said it instituted reforms in 2011 under the lawsuit settlement.
Now, following a Reuters report this month that included publication of more than a dozen stun-gun videos, the jail faces escalating calls for investigation.
Two United Nations torture experts called for a criminal inquiry into the cases documented by Reuters.
Local political leaders say they agree.
Ohio State Senator Charleta Tavares, a Democrat whose district includes the jail, said she planned to call on the county prosecutor’s office to investigate. She said she was disturbed by the video footage published by Reuters.
"Any time a stun gun is used inappropriately – particularly in the video, where it looks as though it is just used over and over and it’s more like a prod that people would use on animals – that is criminal in my opinion," Senator Tavares said.
Ohio Democratic State Representative Kristin Boggs also urged a closer look.
A criminal investigation would be appropriate, she said, if an officer was found to have used excessive force that violated jail policy.
"I certainly think it's worth investigating to determine what we can be doing to make our system better," Rep Boggs said.
Deputies, who misused Tasers should be held to account, said relatives of the inmates.
"It was absolutely abuse," Logan Amburgey, whose brother Patrick was stunned multiple times and pistol-whipped with a Taser by another deputy after defying orders to sit on a bench in his cell on June 12, 2009, said.
Patrick, a 21-year-old college student at the time, had been arrested for passing out intoxicated on the front porch of a local residence.
'Uncooperative'
From 2008 to 2010, 22 deputies at the Franklin County Jail used Tasers on 80 inmates, according to a Reuters review of the jail's "use of force" reports. No jailer pulled the trigger more times than Sgt Turner.
In all, Sgt Turner delivered 28 shocks for a total duration of 126 seconds over the course of 12 incidents.
One other guard, Sergeant Andrew Eing, fired his Taser 26 times for a total of 114 seconds.
Most other deputies who used the weapons pulled the trigger fewer than a dozen times.
Like Sgt Turner, Sgt Eing was promoted – to lieutenant in the department's Internal Affairs Bureau, responsible for investigating officer misconduct.
Now supervisor of the detective bureau, he did not return calls seeking comment. In internal reports, Sgt Eing denied abusing the Taser, saying he aimed to prevent injury to staff and inmates.
In one case, Sgt Eing shocked a 23-year-old mentally ill inmate, Jibril Abdul-Muwwakil, 14 times for 64 seconds while he lay bleeding on the floor, surrounded by 10 officers.
An internal investigation concluded the Taser use was "justified" to control a "violent, dangerous, resisting inmate".
Experts for the plaintiffs described the incident as "excessive" and a violation of Taser product-safety and health warnings.
Sixty per cent of the 80 Taser incidents involved people classified by the jail as intoxicated or mentally ill, Reuters found.
