Correctional Officers Allegedly Knocked Out Female Inmate’s Teeth, Charged With Aggravated Battery

Two officers working at the Lowell Correctional Institution, in Marion County, Florida, were arrested Tuesday after they allegedly physically restrained an inmate and knocked out her teeth.

Corrections officers Adrian Victor Mathew Puckett, 27, and Kurtis Mitchell, 31, were charged with aggravated battery and principal to aggravated battery respectively, for an incident that took place inside the facility on Jan. 26. Puckett was additionally charged with falsifying records. The Office of Inspector General launched an investigation after being informed of the alleged incident, according to Inspector Michael Green’s report, obtained by local news outlet Ocala.com.

Mitchell initially placed the unidentified victim in hand restraints, telling her she “needs to have an accident.” Adding that the victim “disrespected the captain and needs to fall,” he sent her to Puckett, accompanied by another unnamed correctional officer.

According to Green’s report, Puckett put the inmate in a “chicken wing” – a term Urban Dictionary describes as sexual position “where one person lays on their front and the other person pins their arms behind their back with their elbows slightly bent so they look like a chicken with its wings tied.” He then backswept the victim’s legs and forced the inmate onto the concrete walkway by her left arm, which caused her to fall face-first.

The force with which her face hit the walkway knocked out her two upper central incisors and one upper lateral incisor at the root. It also caused a laceration on her lower lip, slicing her lip in half, and another laceration on her nose. The abrasions caused permanent disfigurement to the inmate.

Although Puckett told investigators he used aggravated force because the victim was “physically resisting him, attempting to and subsequently breaking his grasp and not complying with his lawful orders,” video evidence of the incident proved otherwise. Other corrections officers also corroborated the video, telling investigators the inmate was not resisting Puckett.

The correctional officer who accompanied the inmate when she was taken to Puckett was believed to have tried to stop the latter from hurting the victim but it was already too late.

The all-female correctional facility has come under fire for an array of scandals in recent times – one of them being alleged sexual abuse. In August, the Department of Justice's civil rights division met with alleged victims – current and former inmates – and their families and loved ones to discuss allegations pertaining to abuse by the corrections officers.

Former Lowell prison inmate Debra Bennett said she was “saddened” to hear about the injuries sustained by the inmate, but hoped things will change for the better one day in the near future. “I hope this arrest will kick-start a broader investigation to make it not only sexual, but mental, physical and verbal abuse,” Bennett said.