Six men who were formerly officers at New York’s Rikers Island correctional facility were on Friday handed sentences of up to six-and-a-half years in prison for assaulting an inmate four years ago.
The men had previously been found guilty of first-degree attempted gang assault, among other charges, in the beating of inmate Jahmal Lightfoot.
Those sentenced included Eliseo Perez Jr, former assistant chief for security, and Gerald Vaughn, a former captain, who were convicted of ordering the beating. Officers Jose Parra, Tobias Parker, Alfred Rivera and David Rodriguez each faced up to 15 years in prison but were handed sentences ranging from four-and-a-half to six-and-a-half years.
The beating took place in July 2012, after Perez locked eyes with Lightfoot during a search of the jail and Perez said: “This guy thinks he’s tough. When you get him to the intake area, take him to the intake search pen and knock his fucking teeth out.”
Lightfoot was taken to a search area that had no video surveillance. Two officers pinned his arms and legs to the floor while another three kicked him the face dozens of times, fracturing his eye sockets.
The officers wrote in a report that Lightfoot had attacked one of the guards with a sharpened piece of metal and they had used force to restrain him.
Controversies surrounding Rikers Island have spiraled. A campaign to shut the complex has the support of New York governor Andrew Cuomo.
Kalief Browder had become the face of the movement to reform Rikers Island before he killed himself last year. Browder, who was 22 when he died, was arrested at the age of 16 for stealing a backpack. He spent three years in Rikers Island after his hearing was repeatedly delayed, before a judge dismissed his case. His lawyer said his time at Rikers caused mental health issues; he spent hundreds of nights in solitary confinement.
In late 2014 another corrections officer, Carol Lackner, was arrested after a mentally ill inmate, Jerome Murdough, died of overheating in a cell that reached 101F. Lackner falsified reports to say she checked on Murdough’s cell; video showed she had not. Murdough was found unresponsive in a pool of his own blood and vomit. Lackner was sentenced to five years probation, after pleading guilty.
Last year, a federal lawsuit against New York City to expedite reforms at Rikers Island was settled. The settlement included the appointment of a federal monitoring team.
In a report earlier this year, the federal team said that while problems continued, the facility was on its way to making reforms, having hired hundreds of new officers, implemented new procedures and policies to reduce the use of force by guards, and limited the use of solitary confinement.