Correction officer punches NY inmate, then lies that he was the victim, feds say
A former correction officer at a New York prison was charged after being accused of attacking an inmate and lying about being assaulted first, according to officials.
Taj Everly, 32, served as a correction officer at Green Haven Correctional Facility, located about 70 miles north of downtown New York City, in May of 2020, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
On May 28, 2020, Everly approached an inmate and punched him, knocking him to the ground, according to the release, despite the inmate doing nothing to provoke Everly.
An attorney for Everly could not immediately be reached by McClatchy News for comment.
After the assault, Everly wrote up an incident report that detailed the opposite of what happened. Everly inaccurately stated the inmate had punched him in the neck and shoulder, officials say, and he “responded with force.”
He lied about how the event transpired so that “it would appear that the use of force against [the inmate] was warranted,” according to the indictment.
Everly was arrested the morning of Thursday, Oct. 20, and appeared before a judge, according to the release. His charge, falsifying records in connection with a federal investigation, has a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
“This Office has no tolerance for correction officers like Everly who, as alleged, commit acts of violence against inmates in their care and custody and then lie to cover their tracks,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in the release.
Everly’s false reporting is not unique in New York. An investigation from The New York Times found that more than half of New York City’s correction officers disciplined over a nearly two-year period filed incomplete or inaccurate reports or lied to investigators.
But the investigation also found that most officers “escaped serious punishment.”
A former Green Haven correction officer pleaded guilty to charges of excessive force in July after “repeatedly striking [an] inmate’s head and body, while the inmate was restrained with handcuffs.”
Correction officers are “responsible for the custody and security, as well as for the safety and well-being of incarcerated individuals in state correctional facilities,” according to New York state’s website. They have some of the highest rates of “non-fatal, work-related injuries,” according to research from 2016.
New York’s prison system is one of the largest in the United States, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a New York nonprofit.
Over “40,000 New Yorkers are behind bars and another 337,000 have spent time in prison at some point in their lives; three-quarters of them are people of color,” the organization reported.
This story was originally published October 21, 2022 at 3:23 PM with the headline "Correction officer punches NY inmate, then lies that he was the victim, feds say."