2 ex-Muskogee Jail officials indicted in inmate-abuse cases
BY SUSAN HYLTON World Staff Writer
Thursday, February 14, 2013
2/14/13 at 5:18 AM
MUSKOGEE - A federal grand jury in Muskogee has indicted two former Muskogee Jail administrators in connection with a civil-rights case alleging excessive force against inmates, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Raymond Barnes, 42, the jail's former superintendent, and Christopher Brown, 31, its former assistant superintendent, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to violate inmates' rights by assaulting the inmates themselves or by directing other jailers to do so.
They also are charged with aiding and abetting one another in connection with accusations that jailers threw handcuffed inmates to the ground, causing injury.
The indictment alleges that the defendants assaulted the inmates while they were restrained and compliant.
They are accused of organizing "meet and greets," in which jailers tried to scare inmates from surrounding counties by slamming handcuffed inmates to the ground, and of threatening to fire jail employees if they reported the abusive behavior.
The defendants made jailers write false incident reports justifying the use of force, the indictment alleges.
Brown also is charged with providing false statements to the FBI in connection with the "meet and greets" allegation. He reportedly told the FBI that officers "gently placed" out-of-county inmates on the ground.
Former detention officer Dennis Frisbie Jr., 32, also was indicted on one count of making false statements to the FBI.
Frisbie reportedly told the FBI that he was shot by an unknown person in July 2011 for cooperating with the FBI. The timing of the shooting led the Justice Department to allege that Frisbie was lying because he had not been shot at the time he made the statement to the FBI.
Barnes and Brown face maximum prison sentences of 10 years on each of the alleged civil rights offenses. Brown and Frisbie face a maximum of five years in prison if convicted of lying to the FBI.
Attorneys Fara Gold and Dana Mulhauser of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice are prosecuting the case.
Original Print Headline: Ex-Muskogee Jail execs indicted in civil-rights case
Susan Hylton 918-581-8381
susan.hylton@tulsaworld.com
