James Kalbflesh, a former correctional officer at the Roxbury
Correctional Institution (RCI) in Hagerstown, Maryland, was sentenced
today in connection with the March 9, 2008, assault of Kenneth Davis, an
inmate. U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced Kalbflesh to
serve 60 months in prison.
Kalbflesh was found guilty by a federal jury of conspiracy against
rights, deprivation of rights under color of law and conspiracy to
obstruct justice. Evidence at trial and in court documents filed in
connection with his convictions established that Kalbflesh and other
officers at RCI met during the midnight shift and agreed to assault
Davis in retaliation for a prior incident involving Davis and another
officer. Kalbflesh and other officers then entered Davis’ cell and
assaulted him.
Davis was also subjected to retaliatory assaults by officers from the
preceding and following shifts. Davis suffered facial fractures, a
broken rib and fractured vertebrae, among other injuries, as a result of
the series of assaults. The assaults by Kalbflesh and other RCI
officers resulted in serious injuries that left Davis unrecognizable.
Kalbflesh is the last remaining officer to be sentenced in the related
RCI cases.
“Sixteen former correctional officers from RCI have been convicted and
sentenced for their involvement in the series of beatings of an inmate,
and in the coordinated cover-ups that followed each assault,” said
Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights
Division. “These officers betrayed the public trust by using their
official positions to commit violent civil rights abuses and then tried
to cover up their crimes. The Department of Justice will continue to
prosecute vigorously correctional officers who use their power to
violate federal law.”
The case was investigated by the Frederick Resident Agency of the FBI,
and prosecuted by Special Litigation Counsel Forrest Christian and Trial
Attorney Sanjay Patel of the Civil Rights Division.
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