THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, April 28, 1996                 TAG: 9604280055
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Brief 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   35 lines

DEPUTIES FIRED FOR LEAVING MAN IN CELL WITH NO FOOD.

Two city sheriff's deputies were fired Friday for leaving an inmate locked in a holding cell without food for a weekend.

Sheriff Michelle B. Mitchell said the deputies were fired after an internal investigation. She did not release their names.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch identified the deputies as R.E. White and Faye Williams.

Thomas E. Wright was left locked in a holding cell at the Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court on April 19 when deputies apparently thought he already had been transferred back to the City Jail.

Wright had been sentenced to three months in jail for failing to attend domestic-violence counseling required after he was convicted of assault and battery last June.

Jail officials were not expecting Wright because the court order committing him to jail was left at the juvenile court. Mitchell said the inmate was in good condition when deputies found him in the holding cell Monday morning.

Sheriff's deputies keep inmates in the detention cells while court is in session, then drive all the inmates to the jail at once.

Last year in Spotsylvania County, an inmate was mistakenly left in an 8-by-12-foot holding cell over the Labor Day weekend.

KEYWORDS: PRISONER RICHMOND SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT by CNB