WATCHDOG

York County pays $120K for

controversial 'Navy SEALS'-like jail
trainer. Controversy follows
C-SAU agreed to supply equipment including Kel-Tec KSG shotguns and provide
"confidential training" to up to 18 corrections officers at York County Prison.
Dylan Segelbaum York Daily Record
Published 11:40 a.m. ET May 17, 2021 Updated 2:40 p.m. ET May 22, 2021

Prisoners wearing unmarked orange jumpsuits stand facing the wall while handcuffed in a
gym. "Ready, Steady, Go," an electronic dance music song by Paul Oakenfold, blares over the
footage.

The video appears to have been shot with a GoPro-style camera, which is positioned on the
back of a giant schnauzer wearing some sort of tactical vest. “Senior Team Leader” Joseph
Garcia posted the flashy promotional clip on his Facebook page, along with a verse from the
Bible, Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

The timestamp in the bottom left-hand corner of the video reads 8:07 a.m. on March 31,
2021.

That’s the same date and time when, two people who are incarcerated at York County Prison
told the York Daily Record/Sunday News, corrections officers took them out of their cells,
handcuffed them and made them face the wall for several hours in the gym.

Later, the prisoners reported, a man who was leading the guards instructed them to ready
and aim their weapons.

"It's definitely something that I've never in my life been exposed to, and unfortunately, I've
been in and out of prison for over 23 years," said Christopher Schwenk, 50, of York, who’s
being held on $100,000 bail while he awaits trial on felony drug and firearms charges.

When a reporter asked a spokesperson for York County about the video, it was deleted off
Garcia's Facebook page less than 30 minutes later.
In November, the York County commissioners unanimously approved a $122,850 contract
with Garcia’s company, CSAU-1 LLC, a “corrections special operations” organization that’s
based in Greenville, South Carolina. The acronym stands for Corrections Special Applications
Unit.

The agreement calls for the business to provide equipment including Kel-Tec KSG tactical,
pump-action shotguns, "less lethal rounds," "COVID-19 Chem Agent" and “confidential
training” for up to 18 corrections officers, according to a copy of the document obtained
through a Right-to-Know Law request.

The contract further states that C-SAU “agrees to provide support and to defend ‘York
County’ and York County Prison and any of its Corrections Officers, agents, or employees in
any litigation, disputes, or arguments regarding the training tactics, and use of force
application by providing expert witness testimony and guidance as needed.”

Garcia seems to have a controversial past that's easy to find on the internet, and it's unclear
why York County decided to award the business a six-figure contract.

His former company, U.S. Corrections Special Operations Group, came under scrutiny for its
work at Rikers Island in New York City.

And though they’re not named as defendants in the case, Garcia and C-SAU are mentioned
more than 60 times in a civil rights lawsuit that’s pending in U.S. District Court for the
District of Colorado. The complaint asserts that, at the Weld County jail, he helped teach and
implement the Special Operations Group, which “functions as a militarized combat force
trained to intimidate, terrorize, and brutalize people.”

A Google search for "Joseph Garcia C-SAU" returns the following results alone on the first
page:

A copy of the Colorado lawsuit on Courthouse News Service.

"An epic fail in Rikers reform.”
"Rikers Island vendor under fire has gone MIA."
"Couple contracted to train Rikers guards is sued by friends over $125K loan.”

Garcia could not be reached for comment.

The former warden of York County Prison, Clair Doll, who was in that position when the jail
entered into the contract, also could not be reached. He is now executive director of the York
County Human Services Department
“It is our position that we do not comment on any matters that relate to security inside of our
facility,” Interim Warden Adam Ogle said in an email, “so I cannot offer a comment at this
time.”

READ: York County Prison Warden Clair Doll leaving to take on new government role

‘I was scared to death’

Schwenk and his cousin, James Thompson, 36, of York, who was also incarcerated on felony
drug and firearms charges before being transferred to the State Correctional Institution at
Smithfield, knew something was up when their cell doors did not open as usual at 6 a.m.

Next, the two heard a commotion coming from a nearby pod.

Corrections officers, they said, strip-searched them, took them to the gym and made them
face the wall for several hours while handcuffed. The prisoners weren't sure what
precipitated the action.

Toward the end, the cousins said, a man they believed was a private contractor told
corrections officers to ready and aim their weapons. He had a dog with him.

Schwenk said the man told the prisoners that the corrections officers were going to take the
handcuffs off. He stated that the team would use deadly force if anyone moved in the
slightest.

At one point, Schwenk said, he was fearful of getting shot. “I was scared to death. It just
didn't make any sense to me."

Thompson said the prisoners were not sure if the shotguns were loaded with pellets or
beanbags or rubber bullets. He said “nothing we did called for the threat that was made.”

“Nothing that was done in this institution recently, let alone not ever, called for them to be
walking around with these weapons,” Thompson said.

In 2020, York County Prison saw five instances when prisoners assaulted staff members,
according to statistics that counties reported to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
Meanwhile, Dauphin County reported 50 assaults. Lancaster County detailed 12 cases.

But York County detailed more instances of use of force in multiple categories, according to
the data.
The Pennsylvania Prison Society, a nonprofit organization that advocates for humane
conditions in jails and prisons, sent a letter expressing concerns about the March 31 incident.

Claire Shubik-Richards and Noah Barth, executive director and prison monitoring director of
the Pennsylvania Prison Society, respectively, wrote on April 21 that the two realized there
are some discrepancies in accounts about what happened.

But there is agreement, the letter states, that York County Prison staff members led an
exercise during which about 40 people were removed from their cells, handcuffed, taken to
the gym, and made to stand facing the wall for several hours. Shubik-Richards and Barth said
loaded “less lethal” weapons were pointed at the prisoners, and a dog was present.

Several people who called the society, though, thought the weapons were “loaded firearms
with live rounds.” The letter states that one prisoner reported that a guard advised that “if
they moved, the officers would use deadly force and be able to justify it.”

“We are deeply concerned for the welfare of the people forced to participate in this incident,
their neighbors inside of York County Prison, and their families and loved ones outside of the
prison,” Shubik-Richards and Barth said. “We are also concerned for the future ability of the
facility to meet the needs of individuals incarcerated there.”

York County President Commissioner Julie Wheeler said what happened was not a training
exercise — there had been a real issue with security — but she declined to go into further
detail.

The Pennsylvania Prison Society, she said, is set to visit York County Prison on Thursday.

“Of the most serious allegations that were made, I can say that they are false," Wheeler said.

She declined to specify what allegations were “the most serious.”

Garcia posted another video on his Facebook that appears to show the same event inside the
gym.

The clip depicts a group of prisoners sitting handcuffed against the wall, while some
corrections officers who appear to have tactical weapons move across the frame. “Sweet
Emotion” by Aerosmith plays over the scene.

A giant schnauzer again makes an appearance.

When a reporter asked Garcia on Facebook why he posted a video of prisoners, presumably
ith t th i k l d t t hi b d h did t d
York County Solicitor Michélle Pokrifka denied a Right-to-Know Law request for surveillance
video, writing in a letter, "The requested record is maintained by the agency in connection
with a public protection activity that if disclosed would be reasonably likely to jeopardize or
threaten personal security and public safety and protection activities of the County."

The York Daily Record has appealed the decision to the Office of Open Records.

MORE: York County pays $5,000 to settle federal lawsuit over suicide of woman in custody

No-bid contract in New York City

Before C-SAU, Garcia's former company was called U.S. Corrections Special Operations
Group, which did business as Ops Groups LLC and had been registered in Williamsburg,
Virginia, according to court documents.

In 2016, the New York City Department of Correction awarded a $1.1 million no-bid contract
to U.S. Corrections Special Operations Group to provide training at Rikers Island.

The contract later drew scrutiny.

The New York City Department of Investigation launched an inquiry, which found that the
agency did not follow all relevant city procurement rules for the agreement, according to
documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request.

The investigation determined that a number of allegations were unsubstantiated. But it’s
unclear what claims were not founded because they’re redacted in the records.

The inquiry, though, was specific to certain allegations. For instance, documents state, the
department did not look into the curriculum that Garcia taught to the Emergency Services
Unit.

CHECK OUT: Inside Seg B Cell 3: The last days, and death, of Everett Palmer Jr. at York
County Prison

‘A militaristic battle force similar to Army Special Forces or

Navy SEALS’
In 2020, a man who was a student at the University of Colorado at Boulder filed a lawsuit
against a number of people including Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams.
C-SAU and Garcia are not named as defendants. But the lawsuit references them more than
60 times, asserting the sheriff hired him to help implement “unconstitutional policies and
training” that are “contrary to any legitimate penal justification, contrary to appropriate
standards in the detention setting, and extremely dangerous and unnecessary.”

The man was placed in a “detox hold” and later brought to the Weld County North Jail
Complex and detained for "unclear reasons" on June 23, 2018. The lawsuit states that he was
not charged with a crime.

Deputies later fired multiple “concussion explosives” from shotguns in his direction and
“smashed his face into the floor while he lay face-down and helpless,” the lawsuit alleges. The
man suffered a concussion, hemorrhaging in the left eye and a large gash on his forehead.

Garcia, the lawsuit asserts, has aggressively pushed the use of military tactics and weapons in
the corrections setting. The complaint describes the concept as “a militaristic battle force
similar to Army Special Forces or Navy SEALS, but with a twist.”

In Weld County, Garcia trained and encouraged staff members to employ "intimidation,
harassment, aggression, threats of violence, physical violence, and weaponry, to terrify
pretrial detainees and other inmates in the jail," the lawsuit claims.

“Joseph Garcia strives to keep his unconstitutional training and policies secretive, as
evidenced by public statements falsely claiming his practices are ‘classified,’ when in fact they
involve matters of grave public concern,” the lawsuit reads. “However, aspects of his training
have been leaked publicly.”

The lawsuit describes several additional incidents, including one that a prisoner reported
took place in about 2018.

The prisoner, Nicholas Bateman, asserted that Garcia conducted an operation during which
all the guards came into a unit and ordered everyone to put their hands against the wall.

Next, Bateman claimed, the Special Operations Group ordered the prisoners to form a single-
file line and escorted them out with shotguns and dogs. Then, the corrections officers “put
the inmates against the wall and took photos of themselves standing together like soldiers
with the inmates huddled up and afraid,” the lawsuit alleges.

That's a similar scenario to the one that the prisoners described at York County Prison.

U.S. District Judge William J. Martínez recently denied most of a motion to dismiss the case.
Joe Moylan, a spokesperson for the Weld County Sheriff’s Office, said he could not comment
on the lawsuit.

Moylan said the sheriff’s office hired Garcia as a contractor to provide training to deputies.

“Once we were made aware of his tactics, we did cut ties with him,” Moylan said.

The sheriff’s office, he said, has “no intention” of ever working with Garcia again.

ALSO OF INTEREST: York County Prison officials see improvement in COVID-19

numbers

Contact Dylan Segelbaum at 717-771-2102.