Former Downstate correction officers convicted of inmate beating, cover up

Four years after a violent attack on a Downstate Correctional Facility inmate, two former correction officers were convicted in federal court Monday of the beating, and of falsifying records to cover it up.

Former Downstate correction officers Kathy Scott and George Santiago Jr. were convicted in the beating of then-54-year-old Kevin Moore, on Nov. 12, 2013, according to Joon H. Kim, acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

“This verdict should send a loud, clear message to the New York state prison system that the protections of the U.S. Constitution do not stop at the prison wall,” Kim said in a statement Tuesday.

INMATE BEATING: Federal charges brought against Downstate correction officers

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Kim said Scott and Santiago repeatedly punched and kicked Moore in the head and body as he lay on the floor. Moore was then hospitalized for two weeks with facial bone fractures, five broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

Kim said the pair were also found guilty of conspiring to falsify state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision records regarding the assault.

Scott, 43, of Saugerties, and 35-year-old Santiago, of Fremont Center, were each convicted of one count of deprivation of rights under color of law, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. They were also convicted of one count of conspiracy to deprive civil rights, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; one count of falsifying documents, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and one count of conspiring to falsify documents, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Three other former correction officers at the Fishkill prison — Andrew Lowery, Donald Cosman, and Carson Morris — have previously pled guilty to the same four offenses for their involvement in the incident.

The convictions come after a nine-day jury trial before U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas.

The unanimous jury found the “two New York state correction officers guilty of federal crimes in brutally beating" Moore, Kim said in the statement, before “orchestrating a massive cover-up involving scores of lies and even a phony injury.

“Although most correction officers are good and honest public servants doing an enormously challenging and important job, there are those who become criminals themselves," Kim said.

Scott and Santiago are scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Karas on April 10, 2018.

According to the evidence introduced during the trial, Moore had been brought to the 1D Housing Unit at Downstate Correctional Facility to be housed overnight, before being transported to New York City for a court appearance.

A verbal dispute between Moore and a group of correction officers ensued after Moore objected to the cell he was assigned to, referring to himself as a "monster."

Multiple officers, including Santiago, then forced Moore to the floor before repeatedly punching and kicking him in the head and body. According to the attorney general's office, at no point did Moore try to attack, touch or make threatening gestures at the officers.

During the beating, Santiago taunted Moore and yelled "Who's the monster now?" according to court records. He kicked Moore in the face, and continued to strike him even after he was in handcuffs.

Medical evidence presented at trial showed that Moore received at least four forceful blows to the face and torso, including "one crushing strike to the right eye that was consistent with a kick from a boot."

Scott, then a sergeant and the supervising officer on the scene, was present during the beating and was required to stop the excessive force of her subordinates, Kim's statement read. Instead, she encouraged it, ordering an officer to hold Moore down on the floor while other officers continued to beat him. During the assault, Moore repeatedly cried out in pain and begged the officers to stop.

Afterward, Scott and the other correction officers orchestrated a cover up by creating a false story that Moore had attacked one of officers, pushing them and causing them to fall onto a table and injure their back, and that one of the officers had to strike Moore once in the head.

To make this lie appear true, Santiago hit one of the other officers repeatedly on the back with a baton. Scott then photographed the fake injury, and prepared a false use of force report using the photos and false statements from the officers.

Scott and Santiago then repeatedly pressured other officers to lie to investigators about what had occurred.

"Officers who beat inmates, supervising officers who facilitate abuse, and those who lie about it to investigators will face the consequences," Kim said. "And that could be a federal conviction and time in prison as an inmate themselves.”

Abbott Brant: abrant@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4809, Twitter: @AbbottBrantPoJo