Officers broke inmate’s ribs, forced him to crawl to the emergency room, feds say
Instead of taking an injured inmate to an infirmary, an Alabama corrections officer “savagely” beat the man in the hallway of the prison’s health care unit, according to the Justice Department.
As he did, another officer joined in the assault, federal prosecutors said.
The officers repeatedly kicked and punched the man, who was lying on the ground in a fetal position, screaming, and broke his ribs, according to court documents.
Now 38-year-old Devlon Williams, a former Alabama Department of Corrections sergeant who federal prosecutors said initiated the beating, has been sentenced to prison, the Justice Department announced in a Feb. 28 news release.
McClatchy News contacted two federal public defenders appointed to represent Williams for comment Feb. 29 and didn’t receive an immediate response.
What led up to the assault?
The assault on the inmate happened after prosecutors said Williams responded to the man’s suicide attempt at Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore in March 2018, according to court documents.
When the inmate didn’t get up upon Williams orders, Williams hit him with a baton, a trial brief says.
Then, Williams and another officer, Larry Managan Jr. escorted the inmate to the health care unit, according to the trial brief. While on the way, Williams is accused of shoving the man’s head into a gate and pushing him into a door.
Once they entered the unit, Williams threw the inmate down to the floor and started kicking, punching and taunting him, the trial brief says.
Williams yelled at the inmate, saying “since you want to die, I’m going to help you,” according to the Justice Department.
At some point, Managan took part in the beating and repeatedly kicked the man, the trial brief says.
Williams also hit the inmate with his collapsible baton about eight to ten times as he “was unarmed, unresisting, posed no threat, and was not engaged in any conduct requiring the use of force,” according to the court filing.
Both Williams and Managan made the inmate crawl to the facility’s emergency room, the trial brief says.
When the inmate did, Managan stepped on his chest, according to the brief.
“The (officers’) assault of (the man) left (him) with bruises, abrasions, and three broken ribs,” the trial brief says.
Afterward, prosecutors said Williams and Managan lied about what happened to hide their misconduct.
Williams further “pressured junior-ranking officers and eyewitness nurses to lie along with him after the fact,” the Justice Department said.
When a nurse who witnessed the assault warned Williams she was going to report the beating to her supervisor, Williams told her “you didn’t see anything,” according to the trial brief.
The sentence
On Feb. 28, Williams was sentenced to five years and three months in prison on charges of deprivation of rights under color of law, falsification of records and obstruction of justice, the Justice Department said.
Williams “not only attacked the victim while transporting him to receive critical care for suicidal ideation, but also attempted to cover up his crimes and intimidate witnesses,” said Michael D. Nordwal, the assistant director of the FBI’s criminal investigative division.
In July 2023, two defense attorneys who previously represented Williams in the case argued it was “unlikely” that the incident involving the inmate was a suicide attempt and instead suggested it was “more likely that he was attempting to ‘catch out,’” according to a court filing.
They said this meant “he was trying to get reassigned, so as to avoid having to pay his drug debts or be attacked by other inmates, to whom (he) owed drug debts.”
In the court filing, the attorneys wrote that Williams “believes the nurses did not see what they thought they saw,” and that it is more likely they saw Officer Managan kicking (the inmate).”
Managan was previously sentenced for obstructing justice after pleading guilty, the Justice Department said.
He was sentenced to two years of probation, court records show.
During Williams’ trial, Managan testified against him, according to prosecutors.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, of the Justice Department’s civil rights division said Williams “was supposed to set an example for those he supervised and instead he callously abused his authority and brutalized a vulnerable inmate during a time of need.”
This story was originally published February 29, 2024 at 1:40 PM with the headline "Officers broke inmate’s ribs, forced him to crawl to the emergency room, feds say."
.jpg)