Second prison guard pled guilty for assaulting strikers

Conspiracy, assault with injury, coverup: another Georgia prison guard pled guilty, all in response to a strike by prisoners for decent pay. And remember, private prisons have fewer guards per prisoner and less training.

WTXL wrote yesterday, Ex-prison officer pleads guilty in inmate beatings

Federal prosecutors said Wednesday Darren Douglass-Griffin pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to violate the civil rights of inmates and falsification of records in a federal investigation.

Douglass-Griffin admitted he and other correctional officers at Macon State Prison in Oglethorpe assaulted and injured inmates in a series of incidents in 2010. He told prosecutors correctional officers beat three inmates in separate incidents to punish them. One inmate was beaten so badly he had to be taken from the prison in an ambulance.

Douglass-Griffin also said he and other officers tried to cover up the officers’ involvement by writing false reports and lying to investigators.

I say “another” because the federal Department of Justice entitled its PR of yesterday Second Former Georgia Corrections Officer Pleads Guilty to Conspiring with Other Officers to Assault and Injure Inmates. DOJ didn’t say who the first to plead guilty was, but it did add:

Douglass-Griffin faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.

“The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute correctional officers who violate the constitutional rights of inmates, and use their official position to try to cover up their crimes,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas E. Perez.

“We expect the men and women who work in our state prisons to exemplify professionalism and integrity — and the vast majority do,” said Michael J. Moore, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. “But when a small group of guards violate the civil rights of inmates in the facility and then actively try to cover that up, my office will have no tolerance for their conduct.”

This case is being investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Special Litigation Counsel Forrest Christian and Trial Attorney Tona Boyd of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia.

These beatings were related to that prison strike of Decmeber 2010, in which the prisoners wanted to be paid a decent wage for their work.

The Watch wrote 1 March 2011 Georgia Prison Guards Arrested for Retaliatory Beating of Two Black Inmates,

Last Monday seven Georgia prison guards were arrested for their involvement in the December beating of Terrance Dean and Miguel Jackson prisoners in Macon State Prison after a highly publicized prison strike.

Christopher Hall, Ronald Lach, Derrick Wimbrush, Willie Redden, Darren Douglas Griffin, Kerry Bolden and Delton Rushin were each charged with aggravated battery and violation of oath of office, Atlanta’s WALB reported. Their arrests were the result of an inquiry done by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations at the request of the Department of Corrections. A coalition of prisoner rights advocates and allies demanded the GBI investigate the case earlier this year after they heard reports of retalitatory violence against prisoners.

-jsq