Five correctional officers at the infamous Rikers Island jail were found guilty by a jury on Tuesday of beating inmate Jahmal Lightfoot in July 2012. Eliseo Perez, Alfred Rivera, Tobias Parker, Jose Parra, and David Rodriguez were convicted of first degree gang assault, attempted assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, falsifying business records, official misconduct, and an effort to cover up the attack. A sixth correctional officer, Jeffrey Richard, was found not guilty of aiding in the cover up of the crime. Three other officers charged in the crime—Harmon Frierson, Dwayne Maynard, and Gerald Vaughn—will receive a bench trial in the matter.
Perez, who retired from Rikers in 2013, had been the assistant chief for security at the prison. He is one of the (formerly) highest-ranking correctional officers to be convicted of criminal offenses at a correctional institution. According to the state’s case, the beating was instigated by Perez:
Prosecutors said the altercation with Lightfoot started when the officers conducted a contraband search - patting down inmates, tossing over mattresses and rifling around cells for any prohibited items. They said that during the search, Lightfoot locked eyes with Perez. Angered by the stare-down, Perez shouted out to a captain and five officers that Lightfoot "thinks he's tough" and should be beaten, prosecutors said.
Authorities said the guards led Lightfoot into a small cell and then pummeled him so severely he had two fractured eye sockets, a broken nose and bruises that left his eyes swollen shut. Prosecutors also alleged the officers filed false reports claiming Lightfoot had slashed an officer with a sharpened piece of metal, in an effort to explain Lightfoot's injuries.
The trial lasted two months. The five officers will be sentenced in September.
Correctional officers, like police officers in the field, enjoy a privilege of spotless credibility by virtue of their jobs. The benefit of the doubt is extended to them as it is similarly extended to all other law enforcement officers—and therein lies the problem. The extension needs to be reigned in, and it needs to be pulled back. Vigorous interrogation is required. Numerous posts and essays here at Daily Kos have pointed out this need and the systemic nature (and protection) of such crimes as the one described above, in addition to the individual/personal stories that are given visibility. This is the fallout from an over-reliance on incarceration as a cure-all for societal ills.
Daily Kos readers are encouraged to actively find ways to lessen this over-reliance—in your own local communities, as well as nationally.