Rapper Sues BOP Alleging Torture
Kodak Black, whose real name is Bill Kapri, was arrested on May 11, 2019, while en route to perform at a music event in Miami Gardens, Florida.
He was sentenced to 46 months in prison and three years’ supervised release on November 13, 2019, after pleading guilty to two counts for falsifying paperwork to obtain a firearm. The charges were based upon Kapri lying about his criminal history.
While at a BOP facility in Miami on October 29, 2019, Kapri was involved in an altercation with another prisoner. A guard was injured while trying to break up the fight. The incident was instrumental in Kapri being sent to the maximum security USP Big Sandy in Kentucky.
Kapri alleged that five guards “engaged in an improper gang beatdown of him” as “direct retaliation for injuries sustained by [the] guard” upon’ his arrival at Big Sandy. He further alleged the guards “flicked his testicles.”
According to Kapri’s lawsuit, he was forced to share a cell with a prisoner who is serving two life sentences. That prisoner allegedly told Kapri upon his entry into the cell: “Give me 10 reasons I shouldn’t kill you.”
The complaint asserted several reasons to argue that Kapri should not have been sent to Big Sandy. First, he alleged it violated BOP’s policy that prisoners should generally be housed within 500 miles of their home. Next, it averred that BOP classified him as a “Criminal Category 4.” Yet the Pre-Sentencing Investigation Report categorized Kapri as a Criminal Category 3, and the sentencing court departed downward to Category 2.
Finally, Kapri alleged he is a “faithful member of the Hebrew Israelites” and that BOP officials have refused his requests to have access to a rabbi. The complaint averred violations of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act and the First and Eighth Amendments.
Kapri is represented by Bradford Cohen, Jonathan Schwartz, and Robert Buschel.
In October, Black was moved to USP Thomson in Thomson, Illinois.
Black was “grateful to have been moved,” his attorney Cohen said.
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Related legal case
Kapri v. Federal Bureau of Prisons
| Year | 2020 |
|---|---|
| Cite | Case No. 1:20-cv-02684, (D.D.C.) |
| Level | District Court |
| Conclusion | Bench Verdict |