4 Louisiana Prison Correctional Officers Sentenced For Assaulting Shackled Inmate, Covering Up Misconduct

Four former supervisory correctional officers, accused of beating a handcuffed and shackled inmate at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, were sentenced to imprisonment July 2. The incident took place in 2016.

According to a press release from the Department of Justice, the four officers — 43-year-old Daniel Davis, 52-year-old Scotty Kennedy, 34-year-old John Sanders, and 42-year-old James Savoy Jr. — assaulted an inmate “who was handcuffed, shackled, and not resisting.” They then tried to cover up their misconduct by “devising a false cover story, submitting false reports documenting that cover story, tampering with witnesses, and lying under oath.”

Investigation revealed that Davis was the first one to assault the inmate by “yanking the inmate’s leg chains, causing the inmate to fall face-first onto the concrete breezeway.” The other officers joined him and began punching, kicking and stomping on the inmate. The assault left the inmate with a dislocated shoulder, a collapsed lung, and broken ribs. Following the investigation, all the officers were terminated.

All the four persons, who had pleaded guilty to the assault, were sentenced to imprisonment July 2. While Davis was sentenced to 110 months of imprisonment, Sanders and Savoy were jailed for 18 months and 24 months respectively.

“Kennedy was sentenced to a 14-month term of probation during which he will be required to team up with the FBI to give presentations to federal, state, and local correctional officers about the consequences of using excessive force and falsifying reports,” the press release stated.

Speaking about the case, Brandon J. Fremin, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana, said, “Corrections officers are sworn to protect those within our prison systems. Those officers who carry out vicious attacks such as this strip citizens of their basic civil rights and dishonor the work of honest law enforcement officers. The sentences handed down today serve as an example of officials being held accountable for violations of the public trust that was placed in them.”

Asserting that the Justice Department does not tolerate assault by correctional officers, Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division said the division “works tirelessly to protect the civil rights of all citizens.”