Officers at Kentucky prison admit to assaulting inmates, lying about the attacks
Two Kentucky prison officers have admitted to assaulting inmates and lying to cover up the crimes.
Samuel J. Patrick and Clinton L. Pauley pleaded guilty last week in federal court. The two were correctional officers at the high-security federal prison in Martin County, called USP Big Sandy, when they attacked inmates in 2021.
Patrick pleaded guilty to two charges of depriving inmates of their Constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, and Pauley pleaded guilty to three counts.
Patrick admitted that in April 2021 when an inmate asked to be placed into protective custody, he knocked the man down in an office at the prison and elbowed him repeatedly in the head.
Patrick “did this out of anger and not due to any legitimate correctional purpose,” according to his plea agreement.
Pauley admitted he also struck the inmate, and both said another officer, Lt. Kevin C. Pearce Jr., was present but did nothing to intervene in the assault.
Pearce is charged in the case but has pleaded not guilty.
The three officers agreed to cover up the assault, and Patrick and Pauley drafted false statements that didn’t mention their assault on the inmate, who was not resisting or causing a threat, according to court documents.
In another incident, Patrick admitted that in March 2021, he shot pepper spray into the face of an inmate he thought was not responding quickly enough to an order to return to his cell, his plea agreement said.
After the inmate was on the floor and pinned down by other officers, Pauley repeatedly kicked and punched him in the jaw, and Pearce shot him with pepper spray, according to plea agreements.
The inmate had not acted in an aggressive manner, but Patrick wrote a report that falsely said the inmate had refused to go into his cell, cursed and threatened Patrick and concealed his hands, implying he had a weapon, according to the plea agreement.
Pauley kicked the inmate later when escorting him to another cell.
Pauley admitted that in a separate incident in March 2021, he pulled an inmate to the floor and repeatedly hit him with his knee.
Pauley attacked the inmate to punish him for walking too slowly and for a prior non-violent violation of the rules, according to his plea agreement.
The inmate was not being aggressive before the assault and his hands and feet were restrained, but Pauley wrote a false report saying the inmate cursed at him, threatened him and raised up as if he was going to head-butt Pauley.
Pauley’s plea agreement said he also lied to federal investigators about the details of one of the assaults.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons said Patrick is no longer employed by the agency. Pauley and Pearce still work at the prison.
The spokesperson declined to comment on how Pauley’s guilty plea would affect his employment.
The charges the two pleaded guilty to are punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
This story was originally published February 27, 2023 at 10:09 AM.
