Five Philly corrections officers involved in attack on naked inmate, feds say

Five Philadelphia corrections officers assaulted a naked inmate at a city jail and then, with the help of their lieutenant, sought to cover it up, federal authorities said Tuesday.

U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero detailed the 2020 incident at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Northeast Philadelphia as she announced that one of the guards — former Department of Prisons Sgt. Ronald C. Granville, 42 — had pleaded guilty to charges including deprivation of rights under color of law and falsification of records.

Romero did not name the four other correctional officers whom she accused of being involved in the assault or the lieutenant who allegedly helped them hide their misdeeds, saying only that the matter remains under investigation.

“A uniform and a badge do not provide a license to brutalize,” Romero said in a statement. “As law enforcement, we must maintain the highest standards of conduct to protect the integrity of our criminal justice system and the civil rights of all Americans, while recognizing with gratitude that the overwhelming majority of law enforcement officers do just that every day.”

The investigation comes at a time when staffing shortages, pandemic-related lockdowns, and increasing reports of violence at city jails have prompted increased scrutiny from regulators and law enforcement.

Last year, City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart called on the city to address what she described as a rapidly deteriorating situation that is endangering both workers and incarcerated people.

» READ MORE: 29 people died in Philly jails in the pandemic. City officials say they did a ‘good job.’

A spokesperson for the Department of Prisons declined to comment on the incident outlined by federal prosecutors Tuesday, except to say that Granville had resigned last year.

Granville — who had worked in the city jails since 2015 now faces up to 20 years in prison on the most serious crime to which he pleaded guilty. His attorney, James A. Funt, described him as a committed public servant “who has spent his life serving the citizens of Philadelphia in law enforcement.”

”The incident for which he has accepted full responsibility took mere moments,” Funt said. “And while legitimate defenses were available to him, he chose instead to do the right thing. That choice took courage and though it may have temporarily tarnished his once stellar career, it will not forever stain the reputation he has built over his lifetime.”

During a hearing Monday before U.S. District Judge Karen Marston, Granville said he and the four other guards had been ordered to strip-search the inmate, a pretrial detainee who was not named in court filings, shortly before the October 2020 assault.

According to prosecutors, the inmate fully complied with the guards’ orders, stripped naked and then was brutally attacked. Granville and the others punched, kicked, and knocked the man over, leaving him with injuries to the face, ribs, and scrotum that required his hospitalization and emergency surgery.

In the month that followed, Granville said, the guards and their lieutenant submitted false reports about the incident that said the inmate had become aggressive with them and minimized the force they used against him.

“While those behind bars may have lost their freedom, they retain their humanity — and their civil rights,” said Jacqueline Maguire, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia field office, which investigated the case. “Battering a compliant detainee is indefensible.”