Tenth Circuit Affirms Former Oklahoma Jail Captain’s 46-Month Sentence For Brutalizing Detainees
by David M. Reutter
On February 28, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed a 46-month sentence handed to former Kay Correctional Detention Center (KCDC) guard Matthew Ware for depriving detainees of their civil rights when he subjected them to cruel brutality at the Oklahoma lockup.
As PLN reported, Ware, 55, was sentenced in February 2023 after a jury in federal court for the Western District of Oklahoma found him guilty in April 2022 on three counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, which had been handed down in his November 2021 indictment. [See: PLN, Feb. 2023, p.55.]
His conviction on the first two counts stemmed from an incident on May 18, 2017, when Ware, then a KCDC Lieutenant, ordered subordinate guards to move pretrial detainees D’Angelo Wilson and Marcus Miller to an area of the jail housing avowed white supremacist detainees. Both Wilson and Miller are Black, and Ware knew the move placed them in danger of assault. Worse, over those guards’ protests, he then ordered them to open the doors of all detainees in the cell block. White supremacist detainees rushed into Wilson and Miller’s cell and attacked them. Wilson required seven stitches to close a cut on his face.
Ware’s conviction on the third count traced to January 31, 2018, when the guard, by then acting Captain, ordered Christopher Davis placed on a bench in a cruciform position, after the detainee sent a note criticizing how Ware ran the jail. Subordinate guards were also instructed to restrain Davis’ wrists to the far side of the bench, stretching his arms painfully. Davis was left in that position for 30 minutes as punishment for his note, causing physical injuries.
The jury also found Ware guilty of two counts of deliberate indifference to a prisoner’s substantial risk of serious harm and one count of violating a prisoner’s right to be free from excessive force. When the district court imposed sentence, Ware appealed.
He argued error in failing to place “more weight” on his lack of criminal history and low likelihood of recidivism. Though the district court acknowledged these factors, it found Ware’s “breathtaking cruelty” weightier, especially because he was “a law enforcement officer in a management position.” That court also said that factors of “greater prominence” concerned “the nature and circumstances of the offenses committed by a law enforcement officer,” as well as “the need to promote respect for the law, and the need for adequate deterrence.”
The Tenth Circuit, however, found Ware’s sentence fell within the Sentencing Guidelines and was presumptively reasonable. The district court had considered all relevant factors, and the sentence it imposed was one of the “rationally available choices,” the Court said. While the lower court had discretion to show lenience based on Ware’s “community ties and lack of criminal history,” the Court said that “it did not abuse its discretion by declining to do so.”
The district court’s judgment was therefore affirmed, including not only Ware’s prison term but also a three-year term of supervised release and a $300 special assessment; a hearing on restitution was also vacated by the district court. See: United States v. Ware, 93 F.4th 1175 (10th Cir. 2024). Ware’s claim that he was punished too harshly strains credulity; according to the federal Bureau of Prisons, he has already been assigned to its Kansas City Residential Reentry Management field office, preparing for release scheduled on February 19, 2025.