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RALEIGH Two correctional officers and a former guard have been arrested and charged with felony assault after at least 11 inmates say they saw them beat an inmate who was handcuffed and shackled, authorities said.
The three – Gregory Beck, Terry Bell and Brian Bostick – were arrested Thursday on felony charges of assault with a deadly weapon and inflicting serious injury, according to The News & Observer of Raleigh and WRAL-TV. If convicted, the men could face more than seven years in prison.
“Our job is protecting the safety of the public and the inmates in our institutions,” Correction Secretary Alvin Keller said. “This agency has zero tolerance for employees who abuse inmates or operate outside the bounds of the law and our policies and procedures.”
Beck resigned in July 2008. Bell and Bostick were on investigatory suspension. It wasn't clear if they had attorneys, and phone listings for them could not be found.
Jennie Lancaster, chief deputy secretary at the state Department of Correction, said the beating of David Richardson appeared to take place in a “blind spot not covered by any of the dozens of security cameras” at Maury Correctional Institution in Greene County.
Authorities said the guards beat Richardson in March 2008 after he assaulted a prison guard the year before.
Inmates said in written statements obtained by the Raleigh newspaper that Beck, Bell and Bostick handcuffed Richardson and shackled his ankles, led him to the blind spot, and punched, kicked and beat him with batons nearly unconscious.
“They beat him so bad he had to have pins put in his leg,” Mamie Richardson of Charlotte, the inmate's mother, told the newspaper. “He's not able to walk right anymore. A lot of people saw it, and they kept trying to sweep it under the rug.”
Richardson is serving a nine-year sentence for robbery. He has since been moved to another prison.
The guards were released from the Greene County jail on $15,000 bond each. They are scheduled to appear in court on July 10.
“I have zero tolerance for putting public safety or the safety of inmates at risk. Those who abuse inmates or operate outside the law will be held accountable,” Gov. Bev Perdue said in a statement.
