MARYLAND – A U.S. District Judge sentenced a former lieutenant at the Roxbury Correctional Institution in Hagerstown, Maryland, to three years in prison for obstruction of justice in connection with his involvement in a series of assaults against an inmate by prison guards, according to authorities.
On Jan. 9, 2014, former Lt. Edwin Stigile III plead guilty to a charge of destruction of records involving the beating of inmate Kenneth Davis.
To date, 16 current or former officers at Roxbury Correctional Institution were convicted in connection with the series of assaults that Davis suffered on March 8 -9, 2008. One former officer still awaits sentencing, officials said.
“The defendant participated in the cover-up of the assaults suffered by Mr. Davis, and then he lied to cover up this crime,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division. “The defendant’s actions run completely counter to the responsibilities and trust given to a supervisor at a correctional facility. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute those officers who, like this defendant, try to cover up the misconduct of other officers.”
The case was investigated by the FBI.
According to court documents, Stigile admitted that he intentionally used a magnetic device to erase incriminating surveillance video footage related to the Roxbury Correction Institution officers’ assaults of Davis.
The prison’s officers from three different shifts assaulted Davis in March 2008, in retaliation for a prior incident in which Davis struck an officer, according to the evidence.
Stigile also instructed an officer to hide the magnetic device after the surveillance footage was destroyed, officials said.
In September 2012, officials said Stigile made false and misleading statements to federal authorities and a federal grand jury in an attempt to obstruct the federal investigation related to the assaults.