GHN News Editor - Several former correctional officers from Tennessee were sent to prison
for brutally kicking an inmate of the Northwest Correctional Compex in
Tiptonville, Tennessee without provocation.
for brutally kicking an inmate of the Northwest Correctional Compex in
Tiptonville, Tennessee without provocation.
Harold Hutcheson, who had been a captain at the Northwest Correctional
Complex (NCC), in Tiptonville, Tenn., and Joshua Ryan Jones and Roger
Forrester, former officers at NCC, were sentenced Thursday in federal
court in Jackson, Tennessee. They each received prison sentences for
violating the civil rights of an inmate, then lying about it to
investigators.“The power granted to correctional officers so that they can perform
their critical public safety duties does not give them free rein to
abuse the civil and constitutional rights of inmates under their
supervision,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division at the time the officers were sent to prison.
Complex (NCC), in Tiptonville, Tenn., and Joshua Ryan Jones and Roger
Forrester, former officers at NCC, were sentenced Thursday in federal
court in Jackson, Tennessee. They each received prison sentences for
violating the civil rights of an inmate, then lying about it to
investigators.“The power granted to correctional officers so that they can perform
their critical public safety duties does not give them free rein to
abuse the civil and constitutional rights of inmates under their
supervision,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division at the time the officers were sent to prison.
Hutcheson
received a jail term of eight months in prison and two years of
supervised release; Jones was sentenced to serve 10 months in prison and
two years of supervised release; and Forrester was sentenced to serve
10 months in prison and two years of supervised release. Hutcheson and
Jones both admitted to kicking a handcuffed inmate without provocation.
Forrester admitted he had punched a handcuffed inmate also without
provocation.
received a jail term of eight months in prison and two years of
supervised release; Jones was sentenced to serve 10 months in prison and
two years of supervised release; and Forrester was sentenced to serve
10 months in prison and two years of supervised release. Hutcheson and
Jones both admitted to kicking a handcuffed inmate without provocation.
Forrester admitted he had punched a handcuffed inmate also without
provocation.
All three men said
they understood this violated the law about the inmate's constitutional
right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
they understood this violated the law about the inmate's constitutional
right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
“Those officers who abuse
their power and the public trust in this way will be prosecuted to the
fullest extent of the law,”concluded Perez, in his reminder of
correctional officers duty to uphold the law.
their power and the public trust in this way will be prosecuted to the
fullest extent of the law,”concluded Perez, in his reminder of
correctional officers duty to uphold the law.
Today’s plea resulted from the investigative work of the FBI
and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, Criminal
Section. The case is being prosecuted by Civil Rights Division Trial
Attorneys Jared Fishman and Chris Lomax.
and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, Criminal
Section. The case is being prosecuted by Civil Rights Division Trial
Attorneys Jared Fishman and Chris Lomax.
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