JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES GUILTY PLEA
IN CIVIL RIGHTS PROSECUTION OF CORRECTIONAL OFFICER

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today announced a guilty plea in a civil rights prosecution. Stephanie Henry, a correctional officer at the Dougherty County Jail in Albany, Georgia pled guilty to the use of excessive force against an individual detained at the facility.

In March 2002, while employed as a detention officer at the jail, Henry grabbed a young female arrestee by the throat and choked her, causing injury. Henry was indicted by a federal grand jury in Georgia in August 2003. As part of her plea agreement, accepted today by United States District Judge Louis Sands, Henry agreed that the use of force was unnecessary and unjustified. Henry also agreed to cooperate with the investigation.

Two additional defendants, Sergeant Kevin Clark and Officer Juanita Clark, no relation, were indicted along with Henry, and charged with conspiracy to cover up the use of force, and with submitting false reports during the ensuing investigation. Trial on those indictments is set to begin in federal court in Albany, Georgia, on January 20, 2004.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation of this matter. Trial attorneys from the Criminal Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia jointly prosecuted this case.

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