2 jailers charged in inmate attack
The Chesco officers are accused of opening a door to allow one prisoner to assault another.
Two corrections officers at the Chester County Prison have been charged with allowing one inmate to beat another prisoner unconscious this year.
District Attorney Joseph W. Carroll said yesterday that the now-suspended officers - John Hampton, 26, of Philadelphia, and Charles Goodman, 34, of Coatesville - were charged with aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy after allegedly permitting the attack on Mario Banegas, 22.
Hampton and Goodman are accused of opening Banegas' cell door on March 17 and allowing inmate Christopher S. Gilchrist to enter and assault Banegas.
Gilchrist, 20, of West Chester, was charged with aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy. He was in jail awaiting trial on an unrelated assault charge.
Banegas was treated at Chester County Hospital for a broken rib and head injuries that required eight stitches.
Carroll said the investigation began after Banegas identified Gilchrist as his assailant - the two had argued over religion - and said Gilchrist received assistance in the attack. Carroll said Banegas had been written up several times for throwing feces at staff and other inmates.
"I can appreciate some of the frustration the officers felt, but as a society, we cannot tolerate the mistreatment of inmates," Carroll said.
Warden D. Edward McFadden agreed, saying "events like this unfairly tarnish the reputations of the majority of corrections officers."
Witnesses said that both officers stood outside the cell and that Hampton laughed during the 45-second beating, the complaints said.
Hampton and Goodman prepared an incident report that described Banegas' injuries from "banging his head against the cell door," the complaints said.
Hampton, who worked at the prison for 11/2 years, and Goodman, a two-year employee, were released on $10,000 unsecured bail.
Banegas, a homeless man whose troubled history includes a crack-addicted mother, abusive foster parents, and bipolar disorder, was sentenced to six to 12 years in prison in March for savagely beating a Birmingham Township couple who had allowed him temporary residence at their home.
