46 New York Prisoners Accuse Guards of Beatings—Even Waterboarding
by Douglas Ankney
On December 29, 2023, New York state prisoners Eugene Taylor, 32, and Charles Wright, 44, filed separate lawsuits alleging that guards with the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) beat and waterboarded them two months before.
According to Taylor’s complaint, he was incarcerated at Green Haven Correctional Facility (GHCF) when the prison was locked down in October 2023, after an altercation between another prisoner and a guard. Guards in a responding Correctional Emergency Response Team (CERT) ordered Taylor to face the back of his cell and put his hands on the wall. He complied, but the guards allegedly rushed into his cell, yelling “stop resisting” as they repeatedly punched him. Taylor said he was then handcuffed and walked backwards to a shower, where guards continued to beat him until he was shackled and transferred to Great Meadow Correctional Facility (GMCF).
Upon arrival there, Taylor said, he was taken to a medical observation room where a guard with “a white left eyebrow and a Mohawk hairstyle” held a razor to the prisoner’s ear and threatened to slice it off. The guard also allegedly threatened that he would “pop Taylor’s eyes out and that no one would know.” The guard then affixed a dirty rag over Taylor’s face and repeatedly dunked his head in water. Other guards nearby did not intervene, mockingly calling the prisoner “DAN”—an acronym for “Dumb Ass Nigger”—and a “monkey.”
Wright accused CERT guards of similar abuse during the same GHCF lockdown. Though he complied with orders to strip to his boxers and slippers, put his hands behind his head, turn around and back up to the gate, they entered the cell shouting, “What are you reaching for?” As they proceeded to punch his head and face, one guard allegedly gouged Wright’s eyes while yelling “stop resisting”—though Wright, like Taylor, was not resisting. Guards then forced his mouth open and sprayed oleoresin capsicum (OC) directly into it, he said, while the guard who had gouged his eyes began pounding Wright’s head into the floor and against the toilet.
Face dripping with blood, Wright was handcuffed and walked down the gallery in view of representatives from the Office of Special Investigations as he was taken to the medical unit. Both of his eyes had swelled shut and his shoulders were hyper extended, but CERT guards prohibited him from reporting his injuries, he said. Instead they shackled his ankles and squeezed him into a van for transport to GMCF with his knees against his chest. Upon arrival, while he was still in restraints in the van, a guard allegedly sprayed him with OC and threatened to remove his eyes with a ceramic blade, while another made him “hop out of the van like a dog.”
Once outside, the chains were removed and Wright was taken to an observation room, where he was shackled to a bed on his back. A guard with a white left eyebrow and wearing a Mohawk haircut—presumably the same one who had threatened Taylor—entered the room and told Wright, “I’m going to terrorize you worse than they did.” The guard then covered Wright’s nose and mouth with a dirty rag and poured water over it, repeatedly asking, “Are you scared of me more than them?” After about 45 seconds, Wright was able to say, “Yes.” The guard then stopped pouring water and said, “Welcome to Great Meadow.”
Per their complaints, both Taylor and Wright were allegedly issued bogus disciplinary reports. They also reported seeing other prisoners at GMCF who had been transferred from GHCF, and the men were crying. Filed with the aid of attorney Alexander Klein, of Barket Epstein Kearon Aldea & Loturco, LLF, their suits allege five causes of action, including battery, failure to intervene and failure to train. See: Taylor v. N.Y., N.Y. Court of Claims, Claim No. E23-5142; and Wright v. N.Y., N.Y. Court of Claims, Claim No. E23-5143.
In January 2024, Klein and fellow attorney Danielle Muscatello filed another suit for 44 other prisoners who also allegedly suffered beatings and psychological abuse at the hands of GHCF guards during the weeklong lockdown. The prisoners said that their fingers were twisted and their faces slammed against walls by guards during the search of the prison. See: Almonte v. N.Y., N.Y. Court of Claims, Claim No. 24-5145.
In November 2022, Bruce Barket, an attorney with the same firm, filed suit on behalf of 26 prisoners at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, accusing guards there of orchestrating beatings during a search of the prison, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Apr. 2023, p.11.] “Given that [DOCCS] administration apparently approved of the brutality” at Sing Sing, Barket said, “no one should be surprised” by the “escalated the abuse” outlined in the new suits.
Additional source: New York Times
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