Seventh Kentucky Guard Sentenced for Restrained Prisoner’s Beat-down
Former Kentucky Department of Corrections (DOC) guard Sgt. Eric L. Nantell, 48, was sentenced to seven years in federal prison on June 11, 2024, for beating a restrained prisoner at Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex. The federal court for the Eastern District of Kentucky also ordered him to serve two years of supervised release and pay a $400 special assessment.
Nantell was the seventh DOC employee sentenced for the July 2018 beating of the unnamed prisoner, who was lying face-down in a prison shower with his hands cuffed and his legs shackled as three other guards who accused him of having drugs brutally and repeatedly punched and kicked him. Nantell did not join in the melee with fellow guards James D. Benish, 37, Randall T. Dennis, 28, and Jeffery T. Havens, 28—but as the highest-ranking guard at the scene, he could have stopped them, they later testified. Instead, the supervisor walked away and did nothing. See: United States v. Nantell, USDC (E.D. Kent.), Case No. 0:23-cr-00012.
He also did nothing when three more guards standing outside the shower then falsified incident reports to cover up the assault. For guilty pleas to that charge, the Court sentenced Nathan M. Cantrell, 33, Derek A. Mays, 34, and Randy L. Nickell, 55, to one month in jail, plus five years of home incarceration for Cantrell and Nickell, on March 12, 2024. That same day, the other three—who also pleaded guilty—were sentenced for the beat-down. Havens got 15 months in federal prison, Benish got 27 months and Dennis got 60 months.
All six guards must also serve two years of supervised release and pay special assessments of $100 to $400 each. See: United States v. Benish, USDC (E.D. Kent.), Case No. 0:23-cr-00003; United States v. Dennis, USDC (E.D. Kent.), Case No. 0:23-cr-00011; United States v. Havens, USDC (E.D. Kent.), Case No. 0:22-cr-00014; United States v. Cantrell, USDC (E.D. Kent.), Case No. 0:23-cr-00010; United States v. Mays, USDC (E.D. Kent.), Case No. 0:22-cr-00010; United States v. Nickell, USDC (E.D. Kent.), Case No. 0:23-cr-00004.
Dennis, who got the longest sentence, has appealed it to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; PLN will update developments as they are available. See: United States v. Dennis, USCA (6th Cir.), Case No. 24-05231. Meanwhile Dennis is confined by the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Jessup, Georgia. Benish is held at FCI-Berlin in New Hampshire. Havens is at FCI-Yazoo City in Mississippi. At press time, Nantell had not reported to BOP custody.
Additional source: Lexington Herald-Leader
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