OKLAHOMA
A federal judge sentenced Raymond A. Barnes, 42, and Christopher A. Brown, 31, the former jail superintendent and assistant jail superintendent, to prison after a jury found them guilty of violating the civil rights of inmates by using excessive force
Both were convicted of violating the rights of an inmate identified as J.R. when jailers slammed and threw J.R. head-first to the ground while he was handcuffed.
Barnes was additionally convicted of violating the rights of a second inmate, G.T., for similar conduct. Brown was acquitted of violating the rights of G.T., federal officials said.
Barnes was sentenced to two years in prison followed by three years of supervised release, and Brown was sentenced to 12 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to officials.
“Corrections officers who use excessive force against inmates in their custody are violating the Constitution and their sworn oaths to uphold it,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler of the Civil Rights Division. “This department will vigorously enforce the civil rights laws of our nation.”
Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Ronald White in Muskogee Federal Court handed down prison sentences of one year and a day for Barnes and six months for Brown. But a three-judge panel of the appellate court described the sentences as “unusually lenient” and “far below” applicable federal sentencing guideline ranges. The court ordered both men resentenced, according to Oklahoma news reports.
Here is what jurors found that Barnes and Brown did at the jail, according to prosecutors:
The two would physically punish inmates at the jail who were restrained, compliant and not posing a physical threat.
Organize “meet and greets,” whereby jailers would scare, punish and harm incoming inmates from neighboring counties by throwing and slamming the handcuffed inmates to the ground upon their arrival at the jail, according to federal officials.
The two defendants threatened to fire jail employees if they reported abusive behavior directly to the sheriff or to outside law enforcement authorities.
Also they required and encouraged jailers to write incident reports that falsely justified uses of force and contained misleading or inaccurate accounts of what had occurred when force was used.
They created an environment within the jail that allowed unlawful beatings and assaults against inmates to continue indefinitely and without consequence, say authorities.
“Our Constitutional system of government requires this nation’s jailers to abide by the laws they enforce, and to protect the Constitutional rights of all persons in their custody,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels of the Civil Rights Division.