Former Mississippi corrections officers get years in prison for beating prisoner

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Three former Mississippi Department of Corrections officers were sentenced to years of jail time for punching and kicking a prisoner in the head while striking her with an aerosol canister, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

The former corrections officers — Jessica Hill, LaToya Richardson and Nicole Moore — pleaded guilty to assaulting the prisoner in a July 2019 episode at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.

The prisoner was in the fetal position and not resisting when the officers punched and kicked her in the head, prosecutors said. Hill also struck the prisoner with an aerosol canister. The beating continued until other prison workers intervened.

“The defendants in this case ignored their sworn duty to protect inmates and chose violence instead,” said Todd Gee, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi. “We will continue to prosecute those who abuse their positions of authority and violate the civil rights of inmates.”

Hill and Richardson were sentenced to three years and one month in prison with two years of supervised release. Moore was sentenced to two years in prison with two years of supervised release. They were all fined $1,500.

Reached by phone, Richardson’s attorney declined to comment. Attorneys for Hill and Moore did not immediately respond to phone messages.