Rikers Island Guard Assaulted Handcuffed Inmate: Prosecutors

RIKERS ISLAND, NY — Prosecutors have charged a correction officer at the jail on Rikers Island with assaulting a handcuffed inmate in 2014, authorities announced this week.

NYC correction officer Rodiny Calypso is accused of "repeatedly punching and elbowing the inmate in the head and face without physical provocation while the inmate was handcuffed behind his back," according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office for the southern district of New York. Calypso, 38, then lied in an official report that was meant to document what happened when he used force, according to a criminal complaint against him that was unsealed this week.

In February of 2014, Calypso is accused of attacking the inmate while he was in the shower. Investigators said in a statement that some time after an "extended verbal exchange" between Calypso and the inmate, Calypso handcuffed the man behind his back before punching him several times in the face. The guard continued to put the inmate into a headlock and punch him additional times before elbowing him repeatedly in the head, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said the assault was recorded by surveillance cameras and witnessed by multiple inmates. Additionally, authorities say that Calypso lied in a use of force report he completed after the incident and said that the inmate had spit on him.

"Rodiny Calypso allegedly violated a Rikers Island inmate’s constitutional rights by viciously beating him – without physical provocation – while the inmate was restrained in handcuffs," said Joon Kim, the acting U.S. attorney for New York's southern district. "As we have said before, the protections of our Constitution extend to those in prisons, and this Office will remain vigilant about protecting the rights of all, including those confined within the walls of Rikers Island."

FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney, who announced the charges with Kim on Monday, called the alleged assault a "cruel, unnecessary, and inappropriate punishment" in a statement.

Calypso is charged with one count one count of deprivation of rights under color of law and one count of filing false forms.

The inmate, who was not identified in the criminal complaint, was housed in an area where most inmates are kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, although it is unclear whether the injured inmate was kept isolated.

Lead image via Shutterstock.