The Justice Department, which went to court in December to stop an epidemic of brutality in New York City’s jail system, may need to scrutinize New York State’s prisons as well. That seems fairly obvious from two recent articles published by The Times and The Marshall Project exploring a case of prison guards who beat an inmate nearly to death within view of witnesses at the infamous Attica prison in western New York in 2011.

The three guards should have gone to prison. Instead, the Wyoming County district attorney let them plead guilty to a misdemeanor — which means they will do no jail time — and allowed them to resign from their jobs, which means their pensions will remain intact. The case has drawn back the curtains on the insular communities that surround Attica, where prisons dominate the economy, the guards’ union dominates local politics and prosecutors may be unwilling to bring to bear the full force of the law.

The assault happened in August 2011, when three guards — all at least 240 pounds — converged on an inmate named George Williams, apparently because they believed he had insulted them. The guards ordered him to strip for a search and then marched him down the hall to a darkened room where he was beaten with of batons, fists and kicks until he begged for his life, as inmates in nearby cells watched the attack. A hospital in Buffalo chronicled the injuries: two broken legs, one of which had to be realigned through surgery using a plate and several screws; a fracture of the orbit around his left eye; several cracked ribs; a broken shoulder; and multiple cuts and bruises.

The guards were to go on trial in western New York on Monday, charged with assault, filing false documents and evidence tampering; each would have faced a minimum of five years imprisonment if convicted. After letting them plead to a misdemeanor and no prison time, the Wyoming County district attorney, Donald O’Geen, said that the case had “never been about jail for these officers” as though the barbaric acts they committed were not to be taken seriously.