WASHINGTON — A judge sentenced former Kay County supervisory correctional officer Matthew Ware to 46 months in federal prison for violating the civil rights of three inmates.
A federal jury convicted Ware, 53, in April of willfully depriving two pretrial detainees of their right to be free from a correctional officer’s deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of serious harm and of willfully depriving a third pretrial detainee of the right to be free from a correctional officer’s use of excessive force.
Court documents and evidence presented during the trial showed that Ware purposely ordered lower-ranking officers at Kay County Detention Center to move two Black pretrial detainees to a cell row housing white supremacist inmates on May 18, 2017. Ware then ordered officers to unlock the cells of both Black inmates along with those of the white supremacists at the same time the next morning. Both detainees were hurt.
Evidence also revealed that Ware, while serving as acting captain at the detention center, ordered lower-ranking officers to restrain another pretrial detainee with cuffs spreading him apart, for 90 minutes, resulting in injury to the inmate. Court documents say Ware ordered it in retaliation for the inmate sending him a note criticizing how he ran the detention center.
“This defendant is being held accountable for abusing his position of power and authority to, among other things, facilitate an attack carried out by white supremacists on a Black inmate,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This sentence handed down reflects the seriousness of the defendant’s actions and ensures accountability for his unlawful conduct. The Justice Department will continue to hold corrections officials accountable, including those in leadership positions, when they willfully violate the constitutional rights of detainees and inmates in their custody and control.”
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