Former Alabama Corrections Officer Pleads Guilty to Violating the Civil Rights of an Inmate

WASHINGTON—The Justice Department announced today that Scottie T. Glenn, 28, a former corrections officer of the Alabama Department of Corrections, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Montgomery, Ala., to one count of violating the civil rights of a former inmate and to one count of conspiring with other corrections officers to cover up the incident. Today’s plea is the result of an ongoing federal investigation into allegations of civil rights violations at the Ventress Correctional Facility in Clayton, Ala.

The guilty plea arises out of an incident that occurred at the Ventress prison on Aug. 4, 2010, when an inmate, identified in court documents as R.M., was severely beaten, suffered significant injuries, and died the following day in a Montgomery hospital. Today in court, Glenn admitted that he escorted R.M. in handcuffs to an office at the prison, knowing that R.M. would be beaten in retaliation for a prior incident. Glenn also admitted that he and other officers, at the direction of another officer, identified in court documents as Officer A, lied in written reports and lied to investigators to cover up the incident.

The civil rights charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

This case is being investigated by the Dothan office of the FBI. This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Patricia Sumner of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Susan Redmond and Jerusha Adams of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama.