$35,000 Settlement for CCA Prisoner Forced to Act as Guard’s Gladiator

by David M. Reutter

Corrections Corporation of America paid $35,000 to settle a lawsuit that alleged guards forced a prisoner to be a “kapo” and inflict punishment on other prisoners.

On December 6, 2006, prisoner Gary D. Thompson was imprisoned at Silverdale Correctional Facility in Tennessee, when Captain Gillium and guards McCowan and Kinsey had a confrontation with prisoner Eric C. Elder. They told Elder he was a “retarded fuck” and stated they were going to place him in a cell with the “largest nigger,” “preferably a homosexual” and they didn’t care what happened to him.

The prison officials then put Elder in the cell with Thompson and his cellmate, Ernest Carthorn, both black males and Captain Gillium told Thompson, “You know what to do.” Gillium also told Thompson that if he hurt Elder, a white male, he would return his radio. Gillium then grabbed Elder and slung him to the ground. When the guards retreated from the cell, Thompson told Elder to make sounds as if he was being harmed. Gillium checked several times to see if Elder was beat up “real good.”

The complaint further alleged that Gillium ordered Thompson to harm a federal prisoner in 2005, and that Thompson inflicted two black eyes based on those orders. Thompson also stated that in return for being the guards’ “gladiator” or “kapo,” he was given the best jobs and privileges. Once Thompson filed a complaint for being forced into that role, he was subjected to false disciplinary action.           

Thompson agreed to the settlement on September 17, 2007. He was represented by attorney Robin Ruben Flores. See: Thompson v. Hamilton County Government, U.S.D.C. (E.D. Tenn.), Case No. 1:07-cv-00309.

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