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On Thursday, a federal jury found a former Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) correctional officer guilty of several charges tied to the 2018 beating of an incarcerated individual.
Devlon Williams was convicted for deprivation of rights under color of law, falsification of records and obstruction. Williams assaulted the victim, referred to as D.H., on March 8, 2018 at Staton Correctional Facility. According to witness testimony, Williams beat D.H. in the main hallway of the healthcare unit by pummeling and then hitting the incarcerated man with a collapsible baton several times.
During the abuse D.H. was, “on the ground and not resisting or posing a threat to any person or corrections officer.” Williams attempted to cover up the assault with the help of another former correctional officer Larry Managan.
“This defendant is being held accountable for using excessive force against an inmate and preparing a false report to cover-up his unlawful behavior,” said Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Prisoners, like everyone else, have the right to be free from such needless and extreme violence at the hands of law enforcement officers. The Justice Department will continue to hold accountable law enforcement officers who violate the constitutional and civil rights of any American, including people who are incarcerated.”
Williams attempted to cover up the assault with the help of another former correctional officer Larry Managan. Williams was found to have prepared a false report regarding the assault and made false statements to an ADOC investigator. Managan pleaded guilty in 2021 to charges of obstruction for his role in attempting to cover up the incident.
Sandra J. Stewart, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, also commented saying that her office will hold correctional officers accountable for violating the rights of incarcerated people.
“While most corrections officers try each day to do the right thing, unfortunately, some abuse the authority they are granted. Everyone deserves protection under the law and my office will hold any officer criminally responsible for violating the civil rights of a person in his or her custody.”
Thursday’s decision comes less than a month after an ADOC correctional sergeant, D’Marcus Sanders, was arrested and charged for the murder of Rubyn Murray, an incarcerated individual. The Department of Justice also has an ongoing lawsuit against Alabama and ADOC stemming from years of internal investigations into Alabama’s prisons.
In a 2020 press release announcing the lawsuit Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Civil Rights Division stated, “the Department of Justice conducted a thorough investigation of Alabama’s prisons for men and determined that Alabama violated and is continuing to violate the Constitution because its prisons are riddled with prisoner-on-prisoner and guard-on-prisoner violence.”
