Must Reads 2016: A trying year at the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office

The Dayton Daily News is highlighting the best work of 2016 with the year-ending Must Reads campaign.

It’s been a trying year for the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Federal agents are investigating a deputy’s use of pepper spray and missing records. There also have been accusations of segregation in the county jail.

Here's a look at coverage of the sheriff's office during this year.

A Montgomery County Jail sergeant was not disciplined for pepper spraying a restrained inmate in the face in November 2015, but she received a warning four months later for not completing required paperwork, according to county records obtained by this newspaper.

Oct. 11: "Deputies fired over racist texts retired on disability"

Two Montgomery County sheriff's deputies reportedly fired last year for exchanging racist text messages both quietly took disability retirement, an I-Team investigation found.

A third employee given a 30-day suspension had that suspension reduced to three days, forcing the department to pay him back for several weeks of missed work.

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Oct. 17: "Sheriff’s major demoted after ‘inappropriate’ comments"

A Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office major who said a corrections officer could “go back to his thug life” was demoted and removed as commander of the Montgomery County Jail division, according to a Wednesday press release.

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Nov. 5: "Sheriff investigating claims of segregation at jail"

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says it is conducting an internal investigation into allegations that female inmates are racially segregated at the jail.

The I-Team investigated the complaint and found that more than three-quarters of the 573 stays by black female inmates in the Montgomery County Jail from Oct. 1-12 were in 14 older, smaller cells.

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Nov. 13: "State inspection, federal probe, add to county jail’s woes"

A state inspection of the Montgomery County Jail is scheduled for this week as the facility comes under new management and sits besieged by controversy.

Corrections officers have told the I-Team that federal agents have been in the jail to investigate a deputy’s use of pepper spray on a restrained inmate. They also are looking into concerns that arose in the wake of that incident becoming public, including the disappearance of public records.

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