Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Former Maryland Correctional Officer Sentenced in Connection with Series of Assaults on Inmate Final Officer Sentenced in 16-Person Conspiracy to Assault Inmate

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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