Former Madison County Detention Center Captain Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Assaulting Detainee

Gregory Evans, 50, a former Captain with the Madison County Detention Center, in Richmond, Kentucky, was sentenced to two years in federal prison, and three years of supervised release. Evans previously pleaded guilty to using unreasonable force against a detainee, thereby violating the detainee’s civil rights.

According to court documents and statements made at the sentencing hearing, Evans was escorting the victim, E.B., down a hallway when Evans grabbed E.B. out of anger, strangled him and repeatedly punched him. Evans’s assault caused E.B. to lose consciousness and Evans then punched E.B. in the back and face while E.B. was unconscious. E.B. suffered a broken jaw as a result of the assault. Evans was aware that chokeholds were banned at Madison County Detention Center and that punching and strangling E.B. out of anger was an unreasonable use of force. Following the assault, Evans falsified an incident report and made false statements to the FBI. Specifically, Evans falsely claimed that he had ordered E.B. to turn around prior to the assault, that E.B. ignored his commands, and he deliberately omitted the fact that he had strangled E.B.

“The defendant abused his authority as a law enforcement officer and betrayed the public’s trust when he violently assaulted a detainee in his custody,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Law enforcement officials who abuse inmates and detainees are not above the law, and we will continue to vigorously prosecute those who deprive individuals of their Constitutional rights.”

“The defendant was supposed to be law enforcement; instead, he broke the law and violated the rights of someone in his custody,” said U.S. Attorney Carlton S. Shier IV for the Eastern District of Kentucky. “Today, he learned the consequence of his criminal conduct. We will continue our efforts to prosecute excessive force violations, and strive to restore some of the public trust that is lost whenever these crimes occur.”

This case was investigated by the FBI Lexington resident agency, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Dembo for the Eastern District of Kentucky and Trial Attorney Andrew Manns of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.