DA’s office reforms its policy on charging prisoners in assault cases involving guards

Charges against inmate John Steckley were dropped soon after City Paper posted a video showing a prison guard throwing the first punch — to the prisoner's face.

Stills from a prison surveillance video showing Officer Tyrone Glover beating inmate John Steckley.

Lawyer Valerie Heppel was frustrated last month as she struggled to defend inmate Gary Wimbush against charges that he assaulted a corrections officer at a Philadelphia city prison. The District Attorney's office had a video of the incident, but had not yet reviewed it. The judge granted the DA's request for more time.

"The commonwealth is in possession of evidence that exonerates" Wimbush, said Heppel, an attorney with the Defender Association of Philadelphia. "It's a miscarriage of justice. ... He's sitting in jail because of this case."

Charges were later dropped. But such miscarriages of justice could soon be less frequent. The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office will now insist on reviewing video surveillance footage and witness statements before deciding whether or not to charge a Philadelphia Prison System inmate with assaulting a corrections officer, according to a recently instituted policy change. The change took effect following City Paper's Oct. 30 report of an inmate charged with assaulting a guard even though a video showed the guard launching the attack.

First Assistant District Attorney Ed McCann this week confirmed the policy change, but declined further comment. Lorenzo North, president of AFSCME Local 159, which represents prison guards, did not respond to a request for comment.

Defense attorneys have criticized DA Seth Williams' office for reflexively charging inmates for assaulting guards — including in cases where the guard had, in fact, assaulted the inmate.

"One would think they would review all relevant evidence before charging someone with a crime," Angus Love, executive director of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, wrote in an email. "Hard to believe they didn't do that in advance. That said, it is a step in the right direction."

The problem has been alleged to occur both among police on the streets and guards in city prisons: A suspect or inmate is assaulted by officers, but is then charged with the assault.

"It is not uncommon for a corrections officer to allege an assault by an inmate in an effort to cover up the correction officer's own assault against the inmate," Defender Association Northeast Division Chief Kristin Quinn told City Paper last year.

The policy change should reduce the unjust prosecution of inmates who are actually the victims of guard abuse. But
prosecutors must take a further step, says defense attorney Kevin Mincey, and charge correctional officers when they break the law. It is unclear if the DA's office has charged a single corrections officer with assaulting an inmate during Williams' five-year tenure.

One glaring case of seemingly inverted criminal justice is that of Mincey's client, John Steckley, who was charged with assaulting correctional officer Tyrone Glover while incarcerated at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility last January, even though the video posted online by City Paper showed that it was Glover who had severely beaten Steckley.

"As far as I know they still haven't charged Tyrone Glover yet," says Mincey. Officers who commit assault, provide false information to police or perjure themselves should be held accountable, he says. "Those are crimes they would charge regular civilians with."

Charges against Steckley were dropped on Nov. 3, just after City Paper posted a video of the assault. The YouTube video has been viewed more than 112,000 times. (See video at end of story.)

The policy change does indicate that the DA's office is aware that correctional officers sometimes give unreliable accounts of violent altercations with inmates — and perhaps commit perjury in court testimony. For example, in Steckley's March preliminary hearing, Glover alleged that Steckley refused to leave the visitors room and threatened him, and then tried to throw a punch.

"When he got up on me, he attempted to swing," Glover testified. "We got into a physical altercation. And he got on the ground. Once I got him on the ground, that was it."

Glover testified that Steckley struck, or attempted to strike, first. (He believed that Steckley actually landed one or more blows but he "couldn't ... keep count.")

But the video shows that Steckley only attempted to throw a punch after Glover had already struck him hard in the face. Glover then repeatedly struck Steckley. Either Glover did not correctly remember the incident or lied about it in court. Perjury, like assault, is a crime. But when Philadelphia guards and police commit such crimes they are rarely punished.

This was not Glover's only moment in the public spotlight last year. In September, City Paper reported that visitors from city social-service agencies said they watched in horror as Glover severely beat inmate Marcellus Temple in the Curran-Fromhold gym on Sept. 25.

Prison System spokesperson Shawn Hawes said that Temple would be charged but didn't say with what offenses. Notably, he was ultimately charged with making "terroristic threats" and not with assault.

Glover has not been charged in either assault, according to court records.

The Defender Association of Philadelphia, which represents many prisoners accused of assaulting guards, has called for the creation of an independent commission. Mayor Michael Nutter has said that no additional oversight is necessary.

"An independent integrity commission should be esta­blished to help prevent, in­vestigate and impose sanctions for misconduct committed by correction officers," according to a statement Quinn released to City Paper last year.

"Too often, we hear statements and review video evidence that not only con­tradict allegations made by a correction officer, but demonstrate that the correction officer — not the inmate — was the wrongdoer. [Yet, these employees] maintain their jobs without any real consequence. This is just wrong and needs to change."

This story has been updated to include the information that charges against Gary Wimbush were later dropped.