Suit claims Clinton Correctional inmates assaulted

The abuse allegedly occurred before inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat escaped on June 6, 2015, and continued afterward.

'Frivolous'

The suit also points to a host of other problems at the prison that were reported by a prison watchdog group.

The New York State Correction Officers and Police Benevolent Association, the union representing correction officers, said the suit is baseless.

"The overwhelmingly number of use-of-force investigations statewide are unsubstantiated, and it is unfortunate that anyone is using the Clinton escape as an opportunity to file a frivolous lawsuit," NYSCOPBA spokesman James Miller told the Press-Republican.

'Inappropriate comments'

Burks was transferred from Downstate Correctional Facility to Clinton on Feb. 26, 2015. He is from Rensselaer County, serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence on a narcotics charge.

The suit says Burks was often subjected to verbal harassment by white officers who made inappropriate comments about a photograph in Burks's cell of his girlfriend, who is white.

In April 2015, the legal paperwork alleges, Burks was observed having a conversation with a white female correction officer when several male officers interceded.

Burks was told, "in sum and substance," the suit said, "you don't know your place," and that "he needs to be educated."

An officer also allegedly said Burks was "just another n---. We will kill you, do the paperwork, and no one will care about another dead n---."

Tailor shop worker

The suit claims officers then took Burks out of his cell and physically assaulted him by kicking him in the testicles and otherwise roughing him up, and he was then put back in his cell and further assaulted.

Burks worked in the prison tailor shop, the suit says, under civilian employee Joyce Mitchell and with Matt.

Mitchell was convicted for helping Matt and Sweat escape.

At one point, Burks claims in the suit, an officer came into his cell and slammed him around, punching him in the face.

Another officer, he says, then came into the cell and told the officer beating Burks not to hit him in the face.

"The head belongs to the state, and the body belongs to us," the officer allegedly said.

'Widespread brutality'

In addition to the allegations by Burks, the suit contends that the maximum-security prison, where 50 percent of the inmates are black and not one of nearly 1,000 officers are black, is rife with inappropriate behavior by staff.

The suit points to a list of "10 things you need to know about Clinton Correctional Facility," published last September by the New York State Correctional Association, which monitors and reports on the state of New York's correctional facilities.

The list alleged:

• Officers suffocating people during interrogations.
• Severe and widespread brutality in the escape's aftermath.
• Inmates targeted post-escape for reasons unrelated to the escape.
• Longstanding and ongoing brutality at Clinton.
• After being assaulted, inmates are sent to solitary confinement.
• Lack of proper documentation and accountability for abuses.
• COs deny inmates the most basic rights and living conditions.
• Racism and dehumanization are at the core of all of the abuses.
• Inmates at Clinton have been held in solitary confinement for decades.
• Beating, maiming and torture occurs system-wide in New York prisons.

Governor blamed

The suit also blames Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the alleged culture of violence at Clinton Correctional after the escape.

Cuomo visited Clinton shortly after Matt and Sweat's breakout was discovered, and he questioned the inmate whose cell was next to the ones the fugitives had occupied.

That inmate, Patrick Alexander, later had a plastic bag placed over his head and was beaten by officers, who threatened to waterboard him, the suit claims.

The suit further says: "The governor's unjustified, overly broad and unsubtle support of Clinton correction officers assured them that this torture, physical abuse and racial harassment they inflicted on inmates in the aftermath of the escape would go unpunished."

Requests trial

Correction Officer Gene Palmer was arrested for his role in helping Matt and Sweat escape and sentenced in February to six months, including time served. He was released Monday morning.

Several other Clinton officers and administrators, including Superintendent Steve Racette, were placed on administrative leave following the breakout. Racette has since retired.

Mitchell was sentenced to 2 and 1/3 to 7 years in prison for assisting Matt and Sweat.

The suit filed by Glickman seeks a trial by jury in the U.S. District Court Northern District of New York.

The State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said it can't comment on pending litigation.

Inmates photographed

Assemblywoman Janet Duprey, R-Peru, who serves on the Assembly Committee on Corrections, said she does not believe the allegations in the lawsuit.

"Most of the inmates on the Honor Block were transferred out after the escape, and each one of them was photographed, and there was no evidence that anyone was roughed up," she said.

"There was no evidence in the inspector general's report, and nothing that has been verified by DOCCS.

"This seems like a creative effort on some folks' part to get some money."

'Irresponsible reports'

NYSCOPBA contends the suit is biased.

"Organizations like the New York State Correction Association, who advocate solely on inmates' behalf, continue to conduct biased research based on interviews with convicted felons whose credibility certainly can be questioned," Miller said.

"In the aftermath of the escape, there were several irresponsible media reports of alleged inmate abuse, none of which, a year later, have been substantiated."

A detailed report on a year-long investigation by State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott showed that a systematic failure that led to the escape, Miller noted, so blame lies at many levels.

"The men and women who work at Clinton CF, as well as the other 53 prisons statewide, do so with professionalism and integrity," he said.

"NYSCOPBA will continue to advocate for its membership and provide the necessary support when there are baseless allegations."