Officer pleads guilty to taking part in assault on inmate at Kentucky prison

A correctional officer has admitted taking part in an assault on an inmate at a Kentucky prison.

Jeffery T. Havens pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Ashland to a charge of depriving the inmate of his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment by assaulting him, according to court records.

Havens was a guard at the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex in West Liberty in July 2018 when the assault happened.

Havens and other officers carried the inmate to a shower area where there were no security cameras and placed him face down, and Havens held him down, according to the court record.

Another officer, identified only as R.D., punched and kicked the inmate in the head while telling him to stop resisting, even though he was not resisting and was restrained by handcuffs and leg shackles.

Havens joined the assault by punching the inmate in the back several times.

The inmate, identified only as M.M., did not threaten officers or attempt to harm them or himself before, during or after they took him to the showers, according to Havens’ plea agreement.

The attack injured the inmate.

The guilty plea is the second in connection with the assault.

In July, former corrections officer Derek A. Mays pleaded guilty to filing a false report in an effort to cover up the assault and to withholding information about the incident from investigators.

Mays said in his plea agreement that he saw three other guards assault the inmate. The document identified the others only by their initials: J.H, matching Havens; R.D., the same guard listed in Havens’ plea; and a third officer, J.B.

U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning scheduled Mays and Havens to be sentenced in March.

The charges against Mays carry a maximum sentence of 20 years, while Hays faces up to 10 years on the charge against him.