Latest news with #correctionalofficers
Al Arabiya
09-07-2025
- Al Arabiya
Former West Virginia officers sentenced to decades in prison for their role in deadly inmate assault
CHARLESTON, (AP) – Two former West Virginia correctional officers were sentenced to decades in prison on Wednesday for their roles in an assault that resulted in the death of an inmate. Mark Holdren, 41, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Johnathan Walters, 33, was sentenced to 21 years in prison for the March 2022 attack in the Southern Regional Jail, according to a press release from the US Department of Justice. Quantez Burks, 37, was a pretrial detainee who died less than a day after he was booked into the jail in Beaver on a wanton endangerment charge, according to court documents. When Burks tried to push past an officer to leave his housing unit, he was taken to an interview room where he was handcuffed and restrained while officers, including Holdren and Walters, assaulted him. Burks was struck in the head multiple times, kicked, and pepper-sprayed, according to the Justice Department. After the assault, Burks became unresponsive, so officers, including Walters, carried him to a different pod. Walters swung Burks' head into a metal door to open it, and the officers dropped his body onto a concrete cell floor. He was pronounced deceased a short time later by emergency medical personnel. Along with their guilty pleas, Holdren and Walters admitted that the interview room where they took Burks had no surveillance cameras. They also knew that officers used this room and other blind spots in the jail to assault inmates accused of misconduct. Holdren and Walters are two of six correctional officers who were indicted in this case. They include ex-jail supervisor Chad Lester, who was sentenced in May to more than 17 years in federal prison for helping cover up the assault. Prior to the indictment of the six defendants, two other former correctional officers pleaded guilty to conspiring to use unreasonable force against Burks. The state medical examiner's office attributed Burks' primary cause of death to natural causes, prompting his family to seek a private autopsy. The family's attorney revealed at a news conference in late 2022 that the second autopsy found Burks had multiple areas of blunt force trauma on his body. The case drew scrutiny to conditions and deaths at the jail, and in November 2023, West Virginia agreed to pay $4 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by inmates there. In recommending a default judgment in the lawsuit, a federal magistrate judge cited the intentional destruction of records in the case. That led to the firing of former Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation Executive Officer Brad Douglas and Homeland Security Chief Counsel Phil Sword.
CBC
09-06-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Ombudsman to investigate Ontario's response to strip-search by jail guards in riot gear
Ontario's ombudsman says its office will investigate the province's response to a strip search of inmates by jail guards in riot gear at Maplehurst Correctional Complex in December 2023. In a news release on Monday, Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé said the investigation into the ministry of the solicitor general's response is due to public concerns about transparency, accountability and inmates' rights. The strip search followed an assault on a correctional officer at the complex in Halton Region, which holds nearly 1,500 inmates in medium and maximum security. Members of Maplehurst's Institutional Crisis Intervention Team (ICIT) were involved. During the two days in which ICIT correctional officers were deployed at the jail, the ombudsman said inmates in unit 8 were stripped to their boxer shorts, forced to sit on the floor and face the wall with their wrists zip-tied, while correctional officers in tactical gear conducted patrols behind them. "Several inmates and members of the public have contacted us to express concerns about the treatment of inmates by the ICIT over two days in December 2023," Dubé said in the release. "The Ministry has already investigated the incident. What my investigation will cover is the steps the Ministry took as a result, and what it is doing to make sure something like this does not happen again." The Ombudsman received about 60 complaints about the Maplehurst strip search, including from inmates directly involved in the incident. The ministry has finished its internal investigations of the matter, the release said. Subsequently, judges who raised concerns about the incident have reduced the sentences of some of these inmates, according to the ombudsman. In one case, the prosecution argued that an inmate's rights under Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms had been violated during the strip search. "When an incident occurs in an Ontario correctional facility that impacts the administration of justice and the rights of inmates, it is imperative that we understand why it happened and what is being done to ensure that it does not recur," Dubé said. According to Dubé, the investigation will also look at what safeguards can be put in place to prevent a similar incident. The investigation will not look at personnel or disciplinary matters concerning individual correctional staff, he said.
The Independent
03-06-2025
- General
- The Independent
Los Angeles County will pay $2.7M to teen boy attacked in ‘gladiator fights' at detention facility
Los Angeles County on Monday agreed to pay $2.7 million to a teenager who was attacked by at least six other young people at a juvenile detention center in so-called 'gladiator fights' that were allegedly facilitated by probation officers. The boy's beating in 2023 at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall was captured on surveillance video that also showed several officials standing idly by and some of them shaking hands with the participants in the beating. A state grand jury in March charged 30 correctional officers for their role in allowing and sometimes encouraging nearly 70 fights to take place between July and December 2023. The officers face charges including child endangerment and abuse, conspiracy, and battery. More than 140 victims between the ages of 12 and 18 were involved, according to authorities. Attorney General Rob Bonta said after the charges were announced that it seemed the attacks were planned. 'They often wanted them to happen at the beginning of the day, in a certain time, in a certain place. A space and a time was created for the fights, and the plan was for the fights to happen,' he said. The investigation began after the Los Angeles Times first obtained and published video footage that shows a then-16-year-old being attacked by at least six other young people, who came at him one by one as officers stand by watching. The video was first made public during a court hearing during which a public defender for the boy, now 17, argued to a judge that he was not safe at Los Padrinos and should be released ahead of his trial. His attorney, Jamal Tooson, said the settlement was a 'first step' in recognizing the 'egregious' conduct of the LA County Probation Department. 'Our priority needs to be not just protecting my client but all children in similar circumstances under the care and watch of the probation department,' Tooson said. 'There were lawsuits prior to this. I personally represent several individuals who've been harmed at the same facility after this.' According to a correction action plan written by the department, staff failed to review CCTV footage of the facility, delayed taking the teen to the hospital, and waited too long to notify his parents. To address these issues, the department will ensure CCTV monitors are 'staffed routinely' and conduct random footage audits, and develop a protocol for making sure young people in custody are given medical care and their parents are informed appropriately. A judge ruled in April that the LA County Probation Department could not continue housing juveniles at Los Padrinos and approved a plan in May to move more than 100 youths out of the facility. California 's state board overseeing local correctional facilities has previously ordered Los Padrinos to be shut down. Tooson believes there is a pervasive 'culture problem' extending throughout the probation department's facilities that cannot be addressed by the correction action plan. He has filed at least 19 lawsuits in federal court alleging issues from physical violence allowed by officials to sexual assault by staff members in LA County's youth detention centers, he said. 'Until we actively start changing the mindset and behavior of those who are put into a caretaking responsibility of these youth, I think we're going to find ourselves in the same situation,' he said.
Associated Press
03-06-2025
- General
- Associated Press
Los Angeles County will pay $2.7M to teen boy attacked in ‘gladiator fights' at detention facility
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County on Monday agreed to pay $2.7 million to a teenager who was attacked by at least six other young people at a juvenile detention center in so-called 'gladiator fights' that were allegedly facilitated by probation officers. The boy's beating in 2023 at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall was captured on surveillance video that also showed several officials standing idly by and some of them shaking hands with the participants in the beating. A state grand jury in March charged 30 correctional officers for their role in allowing and sometimes encouraging nearly 70 fights to take place between July and December 2023. The officers face charges including child endangerment and abuse, conspiracy, and battery. More than 140 victims between the ages of 12 and 18 were involved, according to authorities. Attorney General Rob Bonta said after the charges were announced that it seemed the attacks were planned. 'They often wanted them to happen at the beginning of the day, in a certain time, in a certain place. A space and a time was created for the fights, and the plan was for the fights to happen,' he said. The investigation began after the Los Angeles Times first obtained and published video footage that shows a then-16-year-old being attacked by at least six other young people, who came at him one by one as officers stand by watching. The video was first made public during a court hearing during which a public defender for the boy, now 17, argued to a judge that he was not safe at Los Padrinos and should be released ahead of his trial. His attorney, Jamal Tooson, said the settlement was a 'first step' in recognizing the 'egregious' conduct of the LA County Probation Department. 'Our priority needs to be not just protecting my client but all children in similar circumstances under the care and watch of the probation department,' Tooson said. 'There were lawsuits prior to this. I personally represent several individuals who've been harmed at the same facility after this.' According to a correction action plan written by the department, staff failed to review CCTV footage of the facility, delayed taking the teen to the hospital, and waited too long to notify his parents. To address these issues, the department will ensure CCTV monitors are 'staffed routinely' and conduct random footage audits, and develop a protocol for making sure young people in custody are given medical care and their parents are informed appropriately. A judge ruled in April that the LA County Probation Department could not continue housing juveniles at Los Padrinos and approved a plan in May to move more than 100 youths out of the facility. California's state board overseeing local correctional facilities has previously ordered Los Padrinos to be shut down. Tooson believes there is a pervasive 'culture problem' extending throughout the probation department's facilities that cannot be addressed by the correction action plan. He has filed at least 19 lawsuits in federal court alleging issues from physical violence allowed by officials to sexual assault by staff members in LA County's youth detention centers, he said. 'Until we actively start changing the mindset and behavior of those who are put into a caretaking responsibility of these youth, I think we're going to find ourselves in the same situation,' he said.
CBC
26-05-2025
- CBC
Quebec unveils measures to curb drug-smuggling drones in detention centres
Social Sharing Quebec Public Security Minister François Bonnardel announced a series of measures to boost safety in the province's detention centres after drones have been used to smuggle drugs into jails. Between January and March, 274 drones were observed flying near jails — 195 of them carried packages, according to the ministry's statistics, and 134 packages were seized. "We've made huge strides on several fronts to prevent drone delivery of packages, detect contraband entering our facilities and secure entrances," Bonnardel told reporters on Monday at the Rivière-des-Prairies detention centre. To prevent drones from delivering packages to inmates, Bonnardel said fences will be installed above and around their windows in the coming months. These structures have proven to be "very effective" after being tested in some detention centres, Bonnardel noted. The second measure of the government's plan includes installing body scanners to detect objects that might be concealed in inmates' body cavities upon entry. All inmates will also be scanned before they return to their sleeping quarters. Those suspected by correctional officers of carrying objects will also undergo scanning. According to the minister, it's "a first" in Quebec. WATCH | The case of a convicted drug trafficker caught smuggling drugs using drones: Drones are flying drugs into prisons, but the inmates involved face little punishment 4 months ago Duration 2:14 The case of a convicted drug trafficker whose online drug-selling platform was connected to the death of a Quebec teen has some calling for stronger actions against inmates who commit crimes while in prison. "It's a tool that is, I would say, more efficient, faster and less intrusive than strip searches," Bonnardel explained. So far, six scanners have been installed in the province's detention centres, with 11 more expected by March 31, 2027. "I've seen how the body detector works. I tell the inmates: 'It's going to be a lot more complicated,'" Bonnardel said of the attempt to smuggle in contraband. Bonnardel stated that all visitors and employees entering jails will also have to pass through detection arches and have their personal effects checked by X-ray devices to help secure entrances. Six detention centres are still without arches and should have them by March 31, 2026, he said. The next steps of the government's plan is expected to involve technological measures to address cellphone smuggling, including jamming cellular waves, which takes more time since it falls under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Between January and March, the ministry's statistics show a total of 896 cellphones were seized as a result of searches, investigations or interceptions by correctional officers. SAPSCQ, the union that represents prison guards in Quebec, said their president wasn't available for an interview.
