FIVE WILSON COUNTY TENNESSEE CORRECTIONS OFFICERS
INDICTED ON CIVIL RIGHTS CHARGES

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department announced that a federal grand jury in Nashville, Tennessee today indicted five former and current Wilson County corrections officers for allegedly violating the civil rights of inmates at the Wilson County Jail. The individuals charged in the indictment are former shift supervisor Patrick Marlowe, former corrections officers Tommy Shane Conatser and Robert Brian Ferrell, and corrections officers Gary Hale and Robert Locke. All five defendants are residents of Lebanon, Tennessee.

The indictment alleges that the five defendants engaged in a nearly two-year conspiracy to assault inmates, cover-up their conduct by filing false reports and charges, and withhold medical care from their victims. The indictment identifies 11 separate incidents between July 2001 and January 2003 in which one or more of the defendants allegedly assaulted an inmate at the jail. The indictment also alleges that one of the incidents resulted in the death of an inmate. A number of other incidents allegedly left victims unconscious.

The charges against Marlowe and Hale, which include alleged participation in the death-resulting assault, carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. The other defendants each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and fine of $250,000.

Four former Wilson County corrections officers already have previously pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to felony charges arising out of the investigation that led to today’s indictment.

The case was jointly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and the 15th Judicial District Attorney General’s Office. The case is being prosecuted by attorneys from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

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