Supervisor at Kentucky prison ‘repeatedly kicked and struck’ inmate, grand jury charges
An officer at a federal prison in Kentucky assaulted an inmate and then filed a false report about it, a federal grand jury has charged.
The indictment charges Lt. Zachary Toney, 33, with violating the inmate’s Constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
The indictment says that on March 9, 2022, at the federal prison in McCreary County, Toney repeatedly kicked and struck an inmate who was lying on the floor with his hands cuffed behind his back.
Toney also is charged with writing a false report on the incident that did not mention his use of force, and with instructing two other officers to make false reports.
Toney told one of the officers to omit the use of force from his report and told the other to falsely say that the inmate threatened and resisted officers, according to the indictment.
Finally, Toney is charged with getting the inmate to drop his allegation that Toney assaulted him.
The grand jury indicted Toney Nov. 7.
A Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman confirmed on Friday that Toney remains employed with the agency, but said policy prevented him from saying whether Toney has been placed on administrative leave “or otherwise disciplined.”
“We trust Federal Bureau of Prisons employees to foster a safe and humane environment for inmates to serve out their sentences,” Michael E. Horowitz, inspector general at the U.S. Department of Justice, said in a news release. “Instead, this indictment alleges that Toney violently assaulted a defenseless inmate and lied to cover it up.”
The department said Toney faces up to 10 years on the charge of violating the inmate’s civil rights.
The charges related to trying to cover up the assault are punishable by up to 20 years each.
This story was originally published November 15, 2024 at 10:39 AM.
