Complaint and
affidavit in Plankinton boot camp death
Argus Leader Staff
published: 11/19/99
CHILD TORTURE*
State of South Dakota
County of Aurora
In Circuit Court
Fourth Judicial Circuit
State of South Dakota, Plaintiff, v. RAYLENE LAYNE and TAMARA
WAGAMAN, Defendants
Complaint for Count 1 child abuse (K.J.); Count 2 child abuse (A.J.);
Count 3 child abuse (P.D.);
Count 4 child abuse (GINA SCORE); Count 5 second-degree manslaughter
(GINA SCORE)
The undersigned, upon being first duly sworn on oath charges that
Raylene Layne and Tamara
Wagaman, acting conjointly, and aiding and abetting each other, did,
in the County of Aurora, State
of South Dakota each commit the public offenses of:
Count 1
Child Abuse, contrary to SDCL 26-10-l, in that on or about the 9th
day of December 1998,
Defendants abused, exposed, tortured, tormented or cruelly punished
one K.J., a minor, in a manner
which did not constitute aggravated assault; and,
Count 2
Child Abuse, contrary to SDCL 26-10-1, in that on or about the 9th
day of December 1998,
Defendants abused, exposed, tortured, tormented or cruelly punished
one A.J., a minor, in a manner
which did not constitute aggravated assault; and,
Count 3
Child Abuse, contrary to SDCL 26-10-1, in that on or about the 9th
day of June 1999, Defendants
abused, exposed, tortured, tormented or cruelly punished one P.D., a
minor, in a manner which did
not constitute aggravated assault; and,
Count 4
Child Abuse, contrary to SDCL 26-10-1, in that on or about the 21st
day of July 1999, Defendants
abused, exposed, tortured, tormented or cruelly punished one Gina
Score, a minor, in a manner
which did not constitute aggravated assault; and,
Count 5
Second Degree Manslaughter, contrary to SDCL 22-16-20, in that on or
about the 21st day of July
1999, said Defendants recklessly killed one Gina Score, a human
being, without justifiable or
excusable cause;
All counts being contrary to the statutes in said cases made and
provided against the peace and
dignity of the State or South Dakota.
This complaint is based upon the affidavit of Doug Lake that is
attached hereto.
Dated this day of November 1999.
John Steele
Aurora County States Attorney
Subscribed and sworn to before me on this day of November 1999,
Mark Barnett
Attorney General State of South Dakota
Request for arrest warrants
The undersigned prosecuting attorney hereby requests that warrants
of arrest be issued for both
defendants based upon the above complaint.
Mark Barnett
Prosecuting attorney
State of South Dakota
County of Aurora
In Circuit Court
Fourth Judicial Circuit
State of South Dakota, Plaintiff, v. RAYLENE LAYNE and TAMARA
WAGAMAN, Defendants.
Affidavit in support of complaint
State of South Dakota County of Hughes
Comes now Doug Lake, and upon being first duly sworn on oath deposes
and says:
I am and at all times pertinent hereto have been the Director of the
South Dakota Division of
Criminal Investigation.
This affidavit is based upon my personal knowledge, together with
information I have gained from
investigative reports and interviews conducted by several agents of
the Division of Criminal
Investigation under my supervision together with information
provided to me from investigation
conducted by the Aurora County Sheriff's Office.
In 1996, the South Dakota Department of Corrections established a
boot camp for juvenile
offenders near Custer, South Dakota. Later a similar program was
established for female juvenile
offenders, also at Custer, South Dakota. The girls program was known
as C.I.I.P. In the spring of
1998, the Department of Corrections decided to transfer C.I.I.P.
from Custer to Plankinton where it
would be known as the S.T.S.I.P. program.
Raylene Layne, then an employee at S.T.S. in Plankinton, was
selected by Department of
Corrections as the group leader for S.T.S.I.P. when it became
operative in Plankinton. As part of
the preparation for the transfer of I.P. from Custer to Plankinton,
Layne, Tamara Wagaman, then an
employee a. S.T.S., along with other staff, were sent to Custer to
observe the operations of the I.P.
program in Custer; to learn and train under the staff which was
operating the Custer I.P. program.
Layne caused videotapes to be made of the Custer I.P. induction
process, daily activities, such as
making beds, cafeteria procedure, hygiene and physical training for
use in training staff to conduct the
I.P. program in Plankinton. Both the Custer and the Plankinton I.P.
programs contemplated treating
moderate to low-risk juvenile females for a period of three to five
months with three or four girls
entering the program every month and three or four graduating from
the program every month.
The I.P. program began the first week of July 1998. Drill instructor
staff from the Custer girl and
boy's program were temporarily assigned to Plankinton to assist the
Plankinton staff with the start-up
of the Plankinton I.P. and to provide training to the Plankinton I.P.
staff. In addition, two of the
Custer boy's boot camp staff were detailed temporarily from Custer
to Plankinton for additional
training of I.P. staff in Plankinton for the last two weeks of
October 1998.
The Plankinton I.P. staff were given instruction on physical
training to be administered to the students
of I.P. through specific instruction, through observation of the
program at Custer and through
observation (or shadowing) of Custer staff preforming these
activities both at Custer and at
Plankinton. One of the components of physical training was a
three-mile run (the actual distance may
have been slightly less). A goal of the I.P. program was for each
girl to have had sufficient physical
training was a three to four mile run by so that she could complete
the time of her graduation from
the program at the end of three or four months. Because both the
Custer and Plankinton I.P.
programs were, by design, a mix of girls who were just entering the
program with little or no physical
conditioning and girls who had been in the program for several weeks
and were more advanced in
terms of physical conditioning, the Custer girls ran about two miles
out, turned around and returned.
Because of this design, the students who were more physically fit
would run the entire two miles up
and return completing the entire course. The slower or newer
students would be allowed by staff to
turn around before completing the entire two miles run and return
with the more physically fit
students as they came by on the return part of the course. In this
fashion, the slower or newer
students were able to gradually progress in the run as their
conditioning improved, but were not
required to complete the entire run at the beginning of the program.
When the Custer staff trained the
Plankinton staff in the appropriate conduct of the physical training
run, the Custer staff instructed the
Plankinton staff to conduct the run in the same manner.
Consequently, the Plankinton staff was
specifically instructed and trained as follows: "Students can fall
out of the run. Staff should encourage
all students to do their best." Mandatory completion of the run by
all students at all times was never a
requirement of either the Custer or Plankinton I.P. program.
On the contrary, staff was specifically trained and were instructed
through written policies known as
Operating Memorandums (OM). OM 11 addressed P.T. safety and stated
in part:
"The staff is also the safety officer during all P. T."
"Students demonstrating difficulty early with physical training must
be monitored closely to avoid
injury."
"Supervisors will be watchful for signs of injury or illness during
P.T."
OM 11 is attached hereto and incorporated by reference.
Staff was also instructed through Department of Corrections OMs to
avoid placing students at risk
for heat or cold injuries. The risks and cautions are referred to in
State Training School OM 16,
which states in part as follows:
"Students are particularly vulnerable to heat and cold. In the
cooler months, respiratory ailments are
a danger while summer temperatures cause heat casualties.
Respiratory ailments can lead to
pneumonia, while heat casualties present the threat of permanent
brain damage or death."
"During late spring, summer and early fall, the combination of hot
temperatures and humidity can
result in heat casualties if care is not taken to protect the
individual student. Supervisory personnel
will ensure that students who, in their opinion, will have some
degree of difficulty with P.T. or during
the acclimation process; possess sickle-cell trait; or have
experienced a preservice heat susceptibility
will be identified."
"(a) Students will not be pushed beyond normal training requirements
especially during P.T."
"Supervisory personnel and instructors will remain vigilant and
responsive to protect students from
becoming heat casualties, particularly during the period of April
through October."
OM 16 is attached hereto and incorporated by reference.
In addition to specific training and policies related to physical
training, the Plankinton staff, including
Raylene Layne and Tamara Wagaman, were specifically instructed and
trained on the appropriate
use of restraints (handcuffs and leg shackles). The restrictions
upon use of restraints are contained,
among other places, in Operations Memorandum No. 10, which is
attached hereto and incorporated
by reference herein.
OM 10 is summarized as follows. "The use of handcuffs and leg
shackles are allowed only to protect
a student from himself; to protect staff or other students (other
DOC policies allow the use of
restraints if the inmate is an escape risk or damaging property)
Only the S.T.S. superintendent,
program manager or group leader (in these cases, Raylene Layne) can
authorize the use of restraints.
The use of mechanical restraints will never be used as punishment.
The use of restraints shall cease
as soon as possible when the student is no longer a threat.
Restraints shall not be used unless
absolutely necessary. Restraints shall never be used in a way, which
causes undue physical
discomfort or restrict the blood circulation or breathing of the
student."
"Further, a written report shall be made for all use of restraints.
The report will be completed no later
than the conclusion of the shift of the cottage staff. The report
shall be given to be superintendent of
the training school and a copy placed in the file. The report will
include a description of any injury
suffered and medical treatment received or needed. Raylene Layne and
Tamara Wagaman were
specifically familiar with, had been trained on, and were
responsible for the proper following of OMs
10, 11 and 16.
Counts 1 and 2
K.J. and A.J. were inducted into the Plankinton I.P. on Dec. 7,
1998. On Dec. 9, 1998, they
participated in their first P.T. and four-mile run. (The actual
distance is 2.7 miles, but it has by
custom been referred to at Plankinton I.P. as a four-mile run.)
About half way through the run, K.J.
and A J. began walking and refused to run any further. Group leader
Layne and Youth Supervisor
Wagaman were the staff present during the run.
Under OM 11, Layne and Wagaman would be the safety officers for the
run. Layne placed K.J. and A.J. in handcuffs and leg shackles,
although neither had demonstrated they would hurt themselves, hurt
staff, hurt students, or present an escape risk. K.J. and A.J. were
then loaded in the safety vehicle following the group. After the
rest of the class was returned to campus, Layne directed
Wagaman to take K. J. and A.J. and two or three older students back
out to the beginning of the
run. The senior students were instructed that they were required
to run the four mile run again. They
were also directed to make K.J. and A.J. run the entire run without
stopping even though K.J. and
A.J. were wearing both the handcuffs and the leg shackles. They
were directed by Layne and
Wagaman to push, pull, drag, scream and holler and do whatever they
needed to do in order to get
K.J. and A.J. from start to finish on the four mile run. The senior
students followed orders and began
to make K.J. and A.J. run. Wagaman followed them in a vehicle.
The students observed and
reported to Wagaman that running in the leg shackles was cutting
K.J.'s and A.J.'s ankles and
causing the blood to run into their shoes. Wagaman responded
that they would all finish the run
together or the older students would also be placed in restraints.
Both K.J. and A.J. received injuries
to their ankles, wrists and knees from running and falling while
running in the handcuffs and leg
shackles. After this second trip around the four mile run, K.J. and
A.J. and the senior students did
warm-down exercises near the cottage. Layne rejoined Wagaman for the
warm down. Neither
Layne nor Wagaman did anything to treat K.J.'s and A.J.'s injuries.
However, later that evening, the
night shift staff provided bandages and treatment for K.J.'s and
A.J.'s injuries. Neither Layne nor
Wagaman have ever filed the reports on the use of the restraints on
K.J. and A.J. as required by
OM 11.
Count 3
P.D. was inducted into the Plankinton I.P. program on or about June
7, 1999. On June 8, 1999, she
was required to participate in her first P.T. run. P.D. began the
run; however, she began to walk
after some distance. Raylene Layne was conducting the run and
ordered four other students to
"assist" P.D. to complete the run. The word "assist" meant that the
students would each interlock an
arm with P.D. and the others would push and pull P.D. to make her
run. When that course of action
proved ineffective to get P.D. to run, Layne placed P.D in handcuffs
behind her back. The students
then interlocked arms with P.D. and pushed her the remainder of the
four miles to complete the run.
During this process, P.D. fell on several occasions and her knees
were skinned. Later the same day,
P.D. was seen by an I.P. staff nurse who noted the knee injuries and
directed treatment for the
same.
On June 9, 1999, the I.P. group was again scheduled to have the
four-mile run. During warm-ups,
P.D. was not cooperative. Wagaman obtained a set of restraints and
Layne placed P.D. in handcuffs
(behind her back) and leather leg shackles. The other students were
taken on their P.T. run, but P.D.
was hog-tied by Layne; that is-- the handcuffs and the leg
shackles were hooked together behind
P.D.'s back. She was then rocking on her stomach with her feet and
hands in the air behind her.
P.D. was left in that position while the other girls completed their
run (30 minutes to an hour). During
this time, Layne observed P.D. and periodically banged two
plastic garbage can lids together over
P.D.'s head to prevent her from taking a nap When the other
students returned, Layne directed three
of them to "assist" P.D. on a run. The students "assisted" P.D. who
was forced to run at least one
and quarter miles in handcuffs and leg shackles. As a result of
the incident of June 9, 1993, P.D.
received circular wounds on the front of each shin in excess of an
inch in diameter and oval-shaped
wounds on the back of each ankle approximately two inches by three
inches. P D. was directed by
staff to clean her blood off the restraint devices. Layne did not
treat P.D.'s injuries and did not
arrange for P.D. to be seen by the medical professionals. Other I.P.
staff provided treatment for
P.D.'s injuries. Layne conducted a P.T. run again on June 10, 1999,
and forced P.D. to run again in
a manner similar to that of June 8 and 9.
Layne prepared the reports on use of restraints required by OM11;
however, she did not deliver
those to her superiors as required by OM11 until a month later after
P.D.'s father had complained to
the S.T.S. administration and the Department of Social Ser-vices
about the injuries to his daughter.
Layne eventually took P.D. to a medical professional to be seen for
the injuries on or about July 13,
1999. Layne advised the medical professionals that P.D. was a
behavior problem and that the
injuries from June 9, 1999, were self-inflicted because P.D. had
struggled against the restraints and
thrown herself on the ground.
Counts 4 and 5
Gina Score was inducted into the I.P. Plankinton program on or about
July 19, 1999. Score
received an induction physical on July 20, 1999; at that time stood
five foot four and three-quarters
inches and weighed 226 pounds. Her first physical training run
commenced shortly before 7 a.m. on
July 21, 1999. The staff supervising the run was Raylene Layne and
Tamara Wagaman (Layne
would have also been the Safety Officer for this run. OM11). A new
trainee (Roxy Fry) who had
only been on the job for about two weeks was also present. Shortly
after the run commenced; Gina
Score began to have trouble and slowed down to a walk. Layne
instructed Wagaman and Fry to
"assist" Gina Score. Wagaman and Fry interlinked arms with Score,
one on each side. Fry also place
her hand in the middle of Score's back. Throughout the entire 2.7
mile run, Wagaman and Fry (and
occasionally some students) "assisted" Score to complete the run in
much the same fashion as
students had previously "assisted" K.J., A.J. and P.D. to complete
P.T. runs. When the run was
nearly complete, (with less than a quarter mile to go) Wagaman and
Fry let go of Score to allow her
to complete the balance of the run herself. Score was unable to do
so and collapsed. Wagaman and
Layne stated that Gina Score was faking and could still proceed.
They left Score laying on the road
until the S.T.S. nurse happened by about twenty minutes later on her
way to work. Layne and
Wagaman told the nurse that Score was a behavior problem and was
faking her injuries. The nurse
concluded that Score might be hyperventilating, and retrieved some
paper bags to use for treatment
of hyper-ventilation. The nurse returned a second time with the bags
and then removed herself to
CG11 the P.A. Safety Officer Layne, about 9:30 a.m. contacted Don
Johnson, Program Manager
and reported that she had a "behavior problem." Nurse Fett arrived
at the scene shortly after 10 a.m.
S.T.S. Superintendent Ramsey and Program Manager Johnson arrived
about 10:30 a.m. Shortly
thereafter P.A. Cody, and Dr. Kleinsasser arrived. P.A. Cody and
Kleinsasser arranged for the
calling of an ambulance.
The conduct of Raylene Layne and Tamara Wagaman in forcing K.J., A.J.,
and P.D. to run,
handcuffing and shackling them for failure to run, and forcing Gina
Score to run over two miles in her
obviously overweight condition; all contrary to their training;
contrary to the S.T.S. policies and
contrary to their responsibilities as the Safety Officers amount to
abusive conduct towards minors
and reckless conduct which resulted in the death of Gina Score.
I respectfully request that the warrants be issued as described in
the complaint.
Dated this 17th November 1999.
Doug Lake
Director of Division of Criminal Investigation
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