Gary Gieselman entered the Washington County jail on a bad check charge. He left on a stretcher.

The same day he was booked into the lockup in Potosi, Mo., on Sept. 29, 2005, he was severely beaten by other inmates and rushed by helicopter to St. Louis for emergency surgery. One jail staffer, driven to tears by her own role in triggering the attack, would later describe Gieselman's injuries as the worst she ever saw there.

It turned out not to be an isolated event but part of a sanctioned system of discipline, federal officials said in filing charges against Vernon Wilson, the chief deputy sheriff, and his daughter, Valeria Wilson Jackson, a correctional officer.

Recent interviews with two attack victims and one of the attackers, as well as jail records and federal and state criminal court documents, provide the fullest public accounting so far of what was once an accepted practice in the jail, about 50 miles southwest of St. Louis.

Gieselman drew wrath for "incessant" complaining and calling Jackson a "bitch," according to prosecutors. Insulting Jackson was an especially bad move, officials said, as she was the unrequited romantic interest of Tommy Mackley, a particularly violent man already accused of murder.

Jail staff primarily used Mackley, with various other inmates, to beat prisoners who offended them, according to prosecutors, a former jail employee and former detainees.

Nonviolent prisoners, held on relatively minor charges, would be removed from the so-called 'soft tank" and placed with violent bullies in the "rough tank" as punishment, according to prosecutors. The attackers were encouraged by some of the jail staff.

Mackley and some other key figures in the case are identified in federal court documents only by their initials or not at all. The Post-Dispatch used jail records and interviews to learn who they are.

Mackley was considered one of the most violent inmates in the place: someone who earned a reputation for jumping on his victims from behind, choking them unconscious, then beating them after they fell to the floor, according to a former jail trusty and another onetime attacker.

Mackley's motives were unclear.

Mackley's mother, Sharon Witt, told the Post-Dispatch she believes that her son was threatened into doing it.

Another of Gieselman's attackers, Christopher R. Wallace, said in an interview with a reporter by phone from state prison that he believed the jail staff had intentionally blocked Mackley's mother from visiting him, or delayed her visits. "It was like they was trying to provoke him into doing things," said Wallace, then a jail trusty.

He said Mackley had feelings for Jackson and was more likely to attack someone who upset her. Prosecutors echoed that in court documents.

Mackley and the others were rewarded for the attacks with cigarettes, prosecutors and others said. "Seems like every time somebody would get hurt, everybody would smoke pretty good," Wallace said.

Mackley had been in jail on charges of first-degree murder, arson, robbery and armed criminal action, accused of shooting Lloyd Agers, the retired longtime principal of a school in De Soto.

While Mackley was in the jail, prosecutors added charges of second-degree robbery and third-degree assault, according to lockup records. He also was charged in state court with first-degree assault resulting in serious injury, in the attack on Gieselman, a jail staffer said.

Mackley was transferred to the St. Francois County Jail in December 2007 and hanged himself there.

Another of Gieselman's attackers, Lanny L. Parks, could not be reached for comment.

Wallace and Parks were both convicted in state court of assault in the Gieselman attack. Parks was sentenced to three years in prison, concurrent with an unrelated three-year term for endangering a child and resisting arrest. Wallace was sentenced to five years in the attack, concurrent with unrelated terms of five years for a robbery charge and 10 for drug trafficking.

Last month, Jackson pleaded guilty in federal court in St. Louis of obstructing justice and is awaiting sentencing. She admitted that jailers knew Mackley would attack other inmates and she used him for that purpose.

She also accused her father, who ran the jail, of using Mackley in the same way. Wilson, of Potosi, was indicted on charges of felony civil rights violations and making false statements to the FBI.

"He's pleaded not guilty, and this case will be vigorously defended," his lawyer, Burt Shostak, said last week.

Kevin Schroeder, the sheriff during the time at issue, was never implicated in any of the incidents. Jackson's plea agreement said he had nothing to do with the Gieselman incident.

Last month, Sheriff Andy Skiles, in office since 2009, said only three employees remain from Schroeder's administration.

TRIP TO 'ROUGH TANK'

In an interview Saturday, Gieselman said he does not remember calling Jackson a "bitch." He does remember arguing with her over whether he should have been in jail; he said he thought his bond had been posted.

He said he does not remember much of the attack, except being approached from behind by three to five inmates and waking up in a hospital later that day.

Wallace said it was clear what was supposed to happen when Gieselman was put in the rough tank. Jackson "wanted it done. She put him in there and said, 'Have fun.'"

"That meant she wanted him beat up," Wallace noted, something he said he saw happen roughly four times.

Prosecutors said that after Jackson placed Gieselman in the rough tank, Wilson found out what Gieselman had called his daughter. He entered the tank and got in a "heated argument" with Gieselman, giving "further encouragement" for Mackley to act.

Wallace said that he threw the first punch. Mackley jumped on Gieselman, choked him unconscious and then beat him once he was down, Wallace said.

Wallace said that it was one of the most horrible things he has ever seen.

Gieselman said his injuries were 'severe" and included a fractured jaw, "blowout fracture of right eye" and lost teeth.

The ferocity of the attack on Gieselman apparently surprised his jailers.

In court, Jackson said she did not intend for him to suffer serious injury. She admitted that she had cried at the hospital because she knew she was partially responsible.

Wallace said inmates who were involved or witnessed the attack began being moved to other jails within an hour.

Gieselman said he believes the attack was the "final straw" that prompted an investigation of the jail. He said he also believes that Wilson's and Jackson's alleged use of inmate enforcers was widely known, but that other staffers turned a "blind eye" because Wilson was "the head guy at the jail."

CIGARETTES IN TRADE

One of the other victims, attacked July 27, 2005, was identified in federal court only as J.T.

J.T. is serving life in prison on a drug charge and agreed to speak to a reporter by phone. He asked that his name be withheld out of fear of Mackley's friends.

Federal prosecutors said it was Mackley who attacked J.T. But J.T. told a reporter he was attacked from behind and never saw his assailants. He was choked into unconsciousness and beaten, ending up with a broken nose.

According to federal court documents, Wilson and other staffers watched on a video monitor, waiting to see the attack. They saw J.T. stagger to the front door of the rough tank.

For their trouble, J.T.'s attackers got cigarettes from Wilson, according to prosecutors. J.T. got a tetanus shot.

J.T. complained that while he was imprisoned for what he calls possession of "burnt residue," there were "people who are supposed to be upholding the law who are breaking the law worse than I ever did. That's my biggest complaint."

After the attack, J.T. told the jail staff only that he had fallen off his bunk, according to federal court documents.

"The favorite term down there was 'fall off your bunk,'" said Wallace, Gieselman's attacker, explaining that it was a euphemism for an attack.

Wallace said that he also was supposed to "fall off his bunk" but that a small amount of drugs he smuggled in was enough to distract Mackley and "get his focus off of me."

Wallace said he did not participate in other attacks. Asked why he participated in one, he said, "I guess it was the atmosphere in there."

Wallace said he knew he would be rewarded with cigarettes. "Sad, isn't it? It's a shame I let myself stoop so low that I hit another man for a cigarette."