A federal grand jury indicted Sharalyn McClain, 28, a former Mississippi Department of Corrections officer, for using excessive force against an inmate at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. The indictment charges McClain with a felony civil rights offense for her role in the assault of the inmate, and for aiding and abetting others in committing the assault. The indictment also alleges that McClain used a dangerous weapon to commit the assault, which resulted in injury to the inmate.

Today’s indictment was announced by Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst for the Southern District of Mississippi, and FBI Jackson Acting Special Agent in Charge Luis M. Quesada.

The maximum penalty for the charged civil rights violation is 10 years of imprisonment. An indictment is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Jackson, Mississippi, Field Office. Trial Attorneys Julia Gegenheimer and Cameron Bell of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenda Haynes of Southern District of Mississippi, are prosecuting the case.