Prosecutors Allege a Stare Down Led to Prison Guards Beating Inmate

Prosecutors allege a stare down led to prison guards beating inmate Robbery suspect Jamal Lightfoot was savagely beaten after he ‘locked eyes’ with Supervising Warden Eliseo Perez, who allegedly told a team of officers to attack the prisoner. Some of Lightfoot’s teeth were knocked out, and his eye sockets and his nose were broken, the Bronx district attorney's office said. By Vera Chinese , Oren Yaniv AND John Marzulli / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Published: Wednesday, June 26, 2013, 10:50 PM A group of correction officers behaved like some of the prisoners they were supposed to be guarding — savagely beating an inmate for looking at one of them funny, prosecutors said Wednesday. “I want you to knock his f---ing teeth in,” supervising warden Eliseo Perez allegedly told a team of officers tasked with reducing inmate violence at Rikers Island. RELATED: GANG OF RIKERS ISLAND GUARDS TO BE INDICTED FOR BEATING INMATE The team — including another captain, Michael Pollard — not only knocked out some of Jamal Lightfoot’s teeth, but members also broke his eye sockets and his nose, the Bronx district attorney's office said. The robbery suspect was beaten so badly he had to be taken to an outside hospital, which led the accused attackers and five others to cover up the circumstances of the assault, the Bronx DA’s office said. They falsely claimed Lightfoot, who’s now doing 3 1/2 years behind bars for robbery, was armed. Lightfoot’s family lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, said the incident is part of a “systemic problem” and shows that “prisoners in Rikers Island are not safe.” The probe was led by the city Department of Investigation. The agency's work has led to the arrests of 53 DOC staff since January 2009, on charges ranging from theft and contraband smuggling to assault. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/stare-led-prison-guards-beating-inmate-prosecutors-article-1.1383637

Two Bexar Co. Jail Guards Put on Leave, Third Quits After Inmate Beating

Two Bexar Co. Jail guards put on leave, third quits after inmate beating Two Bexar Co. Jail guards put on leave, third quits after inmate beating by Dillon Collier / KENS 5 Bio | Email | Follow: @dilloncollier Posted on June 3, 2013 at 11:15 PM SAN ANTONIO -- Two guards at the Bexar County Jail have been on administrative leave since late May after an inmate was beaten inside his cell. Alvaro Ramirez III and Michael Smith were placed on leave following a six-week internal investigation. Inmate Shawn McHazlett was attacked March 31. According to sources within the jail, McHazlett was asleep when Ramirez entered his cell and started to punch him. Officer Michael Smith also is accused of entering the cell and was placed on leave after investigators found he tried to cover up the attack. McHazlett was later treated for bruised ribs and muscle injuries from being shot by a stun gun. A third guard, who witnessed the attack, resigned three days later. He spoke with KENS 5 on Monday and said the beating crystalized his decision to quit. "I felt like I can't work in this type of environment," said the former guard, who asked KENS 5 to conceal his identity. McHazlett was arrested Jan. 13 on felony drug and firearm charges and a misdemeanor charge of interfering with a public servant. "There are almost 800 employees working inside the Bexar County Jail, and a vast majority of them do a wonderful job under stressful situations," said Paul Berry, spokesman for the Bexar County Sheriff's Office. Watch The Video >http://www.kens5.com/news/Two-Bexar-Co-Jail-guards-on-leave-third-quits-after-inmate-beating-210021761.html

Alabama Inmate's Family Sues After Son Beaten To Death

MONTGOMERY, Ala. A former Alabama prison supervisor was behind bars after a jury convicted him Tuesday of fatally beating an inmate and conspiring to cover it up. The federal court jury of eight women and four men returned guilty verdicts against former corrections Lt. Michael Smith. The verdicts followed six days of testimony about the fatal beating of inmate Rocrast Mack at a state prison in southeast Alabama. Mack's family wept while listening to the jury's verdict. "Justice has been served for my son," Mack's father, Larry Mack, said outside the courtroom. Smith, 38, of Auburn was convicted of violating Mack's constitutional rights by fatally beating him, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. He faces up to life in prison. U.S. District Judge Myron Thomson ordered him taken into custody immediately and did not set a sentencing date. Mack was led out of the courtroom with his hands cuffed behind his back. Two other former officers at the Ventress Correctional Facility in Clayton — Scottie Glenn and Matthew Davidson — have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Another former officer, Joseph Sanders, is scheduled for trial July 8. The state Department of Corrections has had cases before where officers were fired or disciplined for abusing inmates, but the charges in Mack's death were unprecedented. The department sought an investigation after an autopsy on Mack raised questions about Ventress employees' statements that Mack jumped on a female officer and got injured when he continued to resist officers trying to subdue him. After the verdict, Corrections Commissioner Kim Thomas said, "This type of conduct is aberrant." He said the verdict makes clear to correctional officers everywhere "that there are limits to their power and authority" and that they should listen closely to their training about when they can use force. Mack, 24, was serving a 20-year sentence for a drug conviction from Montgomery County when he was beaten at the medium-security prison on Aug. 4, 2010. Testimony showed a female officer hit Mack first when she caught him inappropriately touching himself in his bunk. Mack hit her back, and the officer radioed for help, saying an inmate jumped on her. Smith, the shift supervisor, and other officers responded and during the next hour, the 5-foot-11, 160-pound Mack was hit repeatedly by officers. Witnesses said Smith was angry over the female officer suffering a bloody lip, and he hit, kicked and stomped on Mack's head to send a message to other inmates that they had better not touch one of his officers. Mack died the next morning at a Montgomery hospital with bruises covering his body, his front teeth knocked out, and his brain swollen from the injuries. The defense argued that Smith didn't know his officer had struck Mack first and he was trying to maintain order in a prison overcrowded with 1,633 inmates and only 18 guards on duty. The defense said so many officers hit Mack that it was impossible to know who struck the fatal blow. Kewonda King, the mother of Mack's 5-year-old son, joined Mack's family outside the courthouse to reflect on the verdict. "It lifts a weight off my heart," she said. But she said her son, Rocrast Mack Jr., still doesn't understand after nearly three years that his father is dead. "He used to visit his daddy in jail, and he still asks me to take him to jail to see his daddy," she said. Mack's family sued the state after his death and reached a $900,000 settlement, with $440,000 of it going to his son http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Ex-supervisor-found-guilty-in-Ala-inmate-death-4620876.php

Nine state prison guards charged in inmate beating probe

MD - Nine state prison guards charged in inmate beating probe Nine state prison guards charged in inmate beating probe Federal indictment alleges officers at Hagerstown prison planned assault, covered it up By Carrie Wells, The Baltimore Sun 10:38 p.m. EST, February 27, 2013 Nine current and former guards at a state prison in Hagerstown were charged Wednesday in a federal indictment that alleges they conspired to assault an inmate and covered up the incident. The U.S. Department of Justice indictment refers to two separate beatings of an inmate, identified only as "K.D.," in the same weekend in March 2008. K.D. was beaten so badly that he had to be taken to a hospital, the indictment says. None of the current and former prison officers was actually charged with assault. The charges included obstruction of justice for one lieutenant at the prison who the justice department says used a magnetic device to destroy surveillance tapes that captured the beating. The beatings of the inmate at medium-security Roxbury Correctional Institution in 2008, coming at the same time as an alleged inmate beating at maximum-security North Branch Correctional Institute in Cumberland, led to a high-profile investigation and scrutiny of the state prison system that year. Two dozen officers at both prisons were fired or put on leave amid the investigation, though two guards were later reinstated. The Department of Justice says K.D. was assaulted first during the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift at Roxbury on March 8, 2008. In one indictment, Correctional Officer Walter Steele and Lieutenant Jason Weicht face conspiracy charges related to covering up the assault. Former Correctional Officers James Kalbflesh and Jeremy McCusker face civil rights and conspiracy charges. Weicht was also charged with obstruction of justice. The justice department said his actions included "encouraging officers to get together to get their stories straight, providing home telephone numbers for the involved officers so that they could arrange for a cover-up meeting, and giving an officer books on interrogation techniques so that he would be prepared to mislead investigators." Steele faces two more counts of providing false and misleading information to investigators. A second federal indictment stems from a second assault on K.D. the following morning, during the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift. It was after that beating, in which K.D. was kicked and punched in his cell "in order to punish K.D. for a prior incident involving another officer" that the inmate was sent to the hospital, according to the Department of Justice. Lt. Edwin Stigile and former Correctional Officers Tyson Hinckle, Reginald Martin and Michael Morgan were charged with conspiring to have officers assault K.D. during the day shift. Sgt. Josh Hummer and Hinckle, Martin and Morgan also were each charged with a civil rights violation, and Stigile was charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly destroying surveillance tapes that recorded the beating. The maximum sentences for the prison officers range from 25 years to 55 years. Dustin Norris, a former correctional officer at Roxbury, pleaded guilty to conspiring to assault the inmate and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, the justice department also announced Wednesday. cwells@baltsun.com twitter.com/cwellssun http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-prison-guards-conspiracy-20130227,0,6505284.story#sthash.ZD4dYQnR.dpuf

Inmate Beaten By Guards:

Dunn chose McPeak to lead the movement team because of his stature, agility and ability to quickly regain control of inmates. Dunn arrived at Davis' cell at approximately 1:25 p.m. Davis attempted to explain his response to the order to "cuff up." Before he had finished, Dunn ordered him to lie face down on the floor with his head opposite the cell door. Davis immediately complied and the movement team entered his cell in a single file. The trial court found that McPeak lunged onto Davis as he lay unmoving on the cell floor. The court also found that McPeak then repeatedly struck Davis about the head and face, and smashed Davis' chin against the cell's concrete floor. Although appellants Davis, Conaway, Wade and Underwood were in a position to have seen or heard the assault, as they were securing Davis' limbs, each testified that they did not see McPeak strike him. The trial court specifically found that this testimony was not credible.
14 After Davis was restrained, he was carried from his cell, the cell was searched, and he was carried back into the cell. The LPN wiped blood from his head, face, and chest and off the floor. Davis requested further medical treatment, but refused to be treated while lying on the floor in his cell in restraints. The LPN construed Davis' statements as a refusal of medical care. Davis was instructed to remain on the floor and his leg restraints were removed. The movement team left his cell. The door to the cell was locked and Davis' hand restraints were removed.
15 The movement team disbanded at approximately 1:34 p.m. Davis continued to complain to corrections officers that he needed medical treatment for a cut on his chin. He was transported to a medical center some time after 4:00 p.m. The cut on Davis' chin required internal and external sutures. The treating physician also ordered x-rays of Davis' head, torso and extremities due to the existence of numerous other contusions and lacerations.
B. The Institution's Response

16 Each member of the movement team submitted the required written account of the movement team's activities to the appropriate supervisor. None of these reports mentioned any injury to plaintiff. Superintendent Delo reviewed the use-of-force packet, and observed from the videotape that Davis was bleeding immediately after the use of force, but he did not immediately order an investigation. The videotape of the incident was lost after it was forwarded to the Missouri Department of Corrections and had not been located as of the date of trial.
17 The day after the incident, Davis saw defendant McPeak. As Davis passed by, McPeak pointed at him, laughed, and said, "Keep your chin up. Next time it will be your teeth." Plaintiff saw McPeak again the next day. McPeak pointed at him and laughed.
18 On October 9, 1992, six days after the incident, James Bush, district assistant for the fourth senatorial district of Missouri, visited Davis at PCC. Bush is responsible for investigating and responding to inmate complaints of mistreatment by corrections officers. At that time, Bush observed that Davis' eyes and the right side of his face were bruised and swollen and saw the sutures in his chin. Davis told Bush that McPeak had beaten him.
19 Defendant Delo, as superintendent of PCC, was responsible for investigating all inmate claims of excessive force. Delo testified that he could not recall any prior report of abuse or excessive force by an inmate against McPeak. PCC does not track inmate complaints against individual corrections officers; thus, there is no official record of the frequency of complaints of abuse against a particular corrections officer.
20 The trial court found, however, that Delo had received several complaints about McPeak in the past. Davis had drafted letters to Delo on behalf of other inmates on a number of occasions complaining that McPeak had used excessive force. Delo had not ordered any internal investigations, but had nevertheless concluded that these claims lacked merit. James Bush had also expressed concern to Delo about corrections officers' treatment of inmates at PCC on a number of occasions prior to this incident. Bush had specifically recommended to Delo on one or two occasions that certain corrections officers, including McPeak, be discharged or reassigned due to persistent complaints that the officers used excessive force against inmates. Delo never ordered any investigations into these complaints or any interview with Bush.
21 Defendant McPeak served as a corrections officer at PCC from May 1989 to December 1993. During that time, he participated in a number of use-of-force exercises. Defendant Dunn supervised at least 10 of these exercises. In May 1991, a corrections officer reported that McPeak used excessive force against an inmate and conspired with other corrections officers not to report the incident. An investigation into the incident resulted in McPeak's 20-day suspension for failing to report a use of force.3 In August 1993, after the incident at issue in this appeal, McPeak was charged again with failing to report injuries an inmate sustained during a use of force. In December 1993, McPeak was discharged for using unnecessary force against an inmate and failing to report the incident.
22 On October 7, 1992, Davis filed an internal resolution request charging the movement team with using excessive force. Delo then began an investigation into the incident. Delo testified that he that did not initiate an investigation sooner because it could not "definitely be determined" that Davis was injured during the use of force because he had refused to be treated by the LPN immediately after the incident. Delo, however, admitted that, based on the LPN's written statement that plaintiff was bleeding from an unknown source following the movement team's exercise, he was "fairly certain" and did not "think there was any doubt" that Davis was injured during the use of force.
C. The Trial Court's Order

23 Following a bench trial, the court entered judgment for plaintiff and against defendants Delo, Dunn, McPeak, Conaway, Davis, Underwood and Wade, jointly and severally, for $10,000.00 compensatory damages. The court concluded that McPeak maliciously and sadistically used force against plaintiff for the purpose of causing him harm in violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. The court also found that the other four members of the movement team, Conaway, Davis, Underwood and Wade, failed to intervene or protect plaintiff from McPeak's use of excessive force. The court found that they observed McPeak strike plaintiff, but failed to take any affirmative action to protect him from a substantial risk of serious harm.
24 The court found that Dunn, the lieutenant responsible for the movement team's actions, had knowledge of the substantial risk of harm to plaintiff and tacitly authorized the use of excessive force by selecting McPeak to serve on the movement team despite his knowledge of McPeak's propensity to use excessive force against inmates. The court further found that Superintendent Delo had knowledge of and was deliberately indifferent to the substantial risk of harm posed by McPeak's propensity to use excessive force.
25 Based on its conclusion that McPeak's use of force and Delo's failure to protect appellee each demonstrated a willful and wanton disregard of plaintiff's rights under the Eighth Amendment, the court awarded punitive damages of $5,000.00 each against McPeak and Delo.
II. Analysis

A. Standard of Review

26 In reviewing a district court's order entering judgment after a bench trial, we review the district court's findings for clear error. Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a). Under this standard, we will overturn a finding of fact only if it is not supported by substantial evidence in the record, if the finding is based on an erroneous view of the law, or if we are left with the definite and firm conviction that an error has been made. Sawheny v. Pioneer Hi-Bred Int'l, Inc., 93 F.3d 1401, 1407-08 (8th Cir.1996). A district court's choice between two permissible views of evidence cannot be clearly erroneous. Moody v. Proctor, 986 F.2d 239, 241 (8th Cir.1993). We also must give due regard to the district court's opportunity to judge the credibility of the witnesses. Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a).
27 Whether the trial court erred in concluding that defendants' actions constituted cruel and unusual punishment is a legal issue we review de novo. Moody, 986 F.2d at 241. The denial of qualified immunity is also a legal issue we review de novo. Cornell v. Woods, 69 F.3d 1383, 1390 (8th Cir.1995).
B. McPeak

28 Appellant McPeak assets that the trial court's conclusion that he acted maliciously and sadistically in order to cause Davis harm is not supported by the evidence and constitutes reversible error. In excessive force cases, the district court must determine whether the force was applied "in a good faith effort to maintain or restore discipline, or maliciously or sadistically to cause harm." Hudson v. McMillian, 503 U.S. 1, 6, 112 S.Ct. 995, 998, 117 L.Ed.2d 156 (1992). The Court must consider the need for the application of physical force; the relationship between the need for physical force and the amount of force applied; and the extent of injury suffered by the inmate. Id. at 7, 112 S.Ct. at 999.
29 Our review of the record reveals ample evidence to support the district court's conclusion as to defendant McPeak. It is an uncontroverted fact that Davis complied with the order to lie face down on the floor and did not at any time resist the movement team's effort to restrain him. Defendant McPeak acknowledged that he threw himself on top of Davis' head and torso. McPeak denied striking Davis, but Davis testified that McPeak struck him in the head and face 20 to 25 times. The record substantiates the trial court's finding that Davis suffered serious injuries as a result of the incident, including both internal and external sutures of a cut on his chin, and swelling and bruising to his face which was visible almost a week later.
30 The trial court found Davis' testimony regarding the beating more credible, and therefore found that McPeak repeatedly struck Davis. Credibility determinations are uniquely within the province of the trier of fact. Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a); Anderson v. City of Bessemer, 470 U.S. 564, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985). Given that the court found Davis' testimony to be credible, the court's finding that the physical force expended to control Davis vastly exceeded the amount of force required supports its conclusion that McPeak used force maliciously and sadistically for the purpose of causing Davis harm. The court's conclusion is also supported by evidence that McPeak taunted and threatened Davis on the day after the incident.
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TheCase>> Estate of Davis Ostenfeld v. K Delo

http://openjurist.org/115/f3d/1388/estate-of-davis-ostenfeld-v-k-delo

SC. Inmate Beaten By Prison Guard

SC deputy investigated, fired after inmate beating


CAMDEN, S.C. — Authorities say a deputy has been fired after being caught on video beating a South Carolina inmate dozens of times in the legs with a baton or pipe.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said Monday that state police and the FBI are investigating whether the civil rights of inmate Charles Shelley were violated. Columbia television station WIS-TV aired the surveillance video of the beating Thursday and reported that Shelly's leg was broken and he needed stitches.

Kershaw County Sheriff Steve McCaskill said the deputy was fired. The sheriff did not give the deputy's name.

Shelley told the station he had been arrested on an outstanding warrant and other violations. WIS said the deputy reported the inmate threatened him.

Crippled Inmate Beaten By Guards

Crippled inmate was alone with guards
Prisons chief says he wasn't beaten

BY MICHAEL BIESECKER - STAFF WRITER
Published: Sat, May. 02, 2009 04:03AM

Modified Sat, May. 02, 2009 04:06AM

RALEIGH -- The head of the state prison system said Friday that
security camera footage of Timothy E. Helms being pulled from his
smoke-filled cell shows guards did not beat him. But a second segment
of tape shows the inmate being taken into another cell where he was
alone with up to five guards, out of view of the prison's cameras,
for 22 minutes.
Reviews of the Aug. 3 incident by both the state Department of
Correction and the State Bureau of Investigation have failed to
determine precisely how Helms received extensive blunt force injuries
that left him a quadriplegic.
The prosecutor who Wednesday said there was not enough evidence to
pursue any criminal charges was not shown footage of guards at
Alexander Correctional Institution taking Helms to another cell after
they removed him from the one he set on fire. Helms, who had a long
history of mental illness, had been held in solitary confinement for
more than a year.

The video shows four officers taking the inmate to a cell in another
section of the maximum security state prison in Taylorsville. Helms
is handcuffed and wearing a white T-shirt and long pants. He is seen
on the video walking upright and without assistance as the guards
escort him into the cell. A fifth officer then enters the confined
space.
For the next 22 minutes, Helms is in the cell with guards, out of
view of the camera, until medical personnel are taken to see him.
When four guards take him out of the cell six minutes later, at 10:18
p.m., he is wearing only underwear. Two of the officers appear to be
helping support him as he is hustled out of the cellblock.
At noon the next day, Helms was taken in the back of a squad car to
the emergency room of a hospital in Hickory, where medical records
indicate he told his doctor that he had set a fire in his cell and
that guards then beat him with sticks.
A CT scan showed that his skull was fractured in two places and a
doctor wrote that Helms had welts on his back and chest "consistent
with multiple blows from a Billy club."
Within days, as the bleeding in his brain continued, Helms slipped
into a coma.
Helms now lives in a hospital ward at Central Prison. Though can now
speak in a whisper, he can't sit up on his own, feed himself or
control his bowels. Extensive bleeding damaged the parts of his brain
tied to speech and memory.
Helms has been imprisoned since he was sentenced to three life terms
in 1994 after a fatal drunken-driving crash.
Alvin W. Keller Jr., secretary of the state Department of Correction,
said at a news conference Friday that there is no evidence that Helms
was abused by the staff at Alexander Correctional.
To bolster his case, Keller, a former military judge and prosecutor,
played a video clip recorded on the night of the fire, showing guards
removing Helms from his cell while his bedding was ablaze. That video
shows officers dragging Helms from his cell and into a nearby shower,
out of view. A short time later, the officers can be seen carrying
him out of the smoky pod of cells.
"I think that when you look at the tape, when you truly look at the
tape, these gents were focused on trying to do a good job here," said
Keller, who took over the top job at DOC in January. "I was quite
proud to see what they were doing. There focus was on trying to get
Helms out of there."
Keller said the video discredited the account Helms gave his
emergency room doctor of his being beaten by guards using batons.
A written DOC statement released Thursday said that guards on the
cellblock where the fire occurred were not issued batons until a
month later. On Friday, officials acknowledged that officers in
neighboring cellblocks who responded to the emergency did carry
batons, as could be seen in the video clip Keller showed at the news
conference.
michael.biesecker@... or 919-829-4698