FORMER PRISON GUARD SERGEANT SENTENCED FOR OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Friday, May 9, 2014

Former Maryland Sergeant Sentenced for Obstruction of Justice

Josh Hummer, formerly a sergeant at Roxbury Correctional Institution (RCI) in Hagerstown, Maryland, was sentenced today to serve 12 months and a day in prison for obstruction of justice.   Previously, on Jan. 31, 2014, a federal jury found Hummer guilty of providing false and misleading information to state investigators tasked with conducting an inquiry into a series of staff assaults against an inmate, Kenneth Davis, at RCI.

Evidence presented at trial showed that Hummer, 41, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, was on duty as a sergeant at RCI on the morning of March 9, 2008, when officers assaulted Davis inside a cell.   On April 3, 2008, Hummer lied to a Maryland State Police detective about that assault.

Sixteen former RCI officers have been convicted in connection with the series of assaults against Davis.   Through those guilty pleas, the defendants have admitted that officers from three different shifts, including Hummer’s, assaulted Davis in retaliation for a prior incident in which Davis had hit an officer.   As a result of these beatings, Davis suffered broken bones in his face, ribs and back.

“The vast majority of correctional supervisors serve their communities with honor and integrity,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division.   “When a supervisor at a correctional facility tries to cover up a staff assault of an inmate, however, the Department of Justice will do its utmost to hold him accountable.”

This case was investigated by the Frederick Resident Agency of the FBI, and prosecuted by Special Litigation Counsel Forrest Christian and Trial Attorneys Sanjay Patel and Christine Siscaretti, with the support of Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Cunningham of U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.