Rikers Island prison guards plead guilty to running sadistic secret group that left teen dead

Originally Published:Friday, October 21st 2011, 2:45 PM
Updated: Friday, October 21st 2011, 5:50 PM

 

Khalid Nelson (l.) and Michael McKie, both former Rikers guards plead guilty to turning a blind eye to the fatal beating of a teenage inmate.

A pair of Rikers Island correction officers copped sweetheart pleas Friday after turning a blind eye to the 2008 beating death of a teenage inmate.

Officers Michael McKie and Khalid Nelson pleaded guilty in a Bronx courtroom to reduced charges that spared them potential jail terms of up to 50 years behind bars.
McKie and Nelson were charged with running a secret, sadistic society called "The Program" on Rikers. The pair was accused of enterprise corruption for allowing a brutal squad of inmates, dubbed "The Team," to beat and extort other prisoners.
The officers were named in a 58-count indictment that followed the Oct. 18, 2008, death of inmate Christopher Robinson, 18, at the hands of other prisoners.
Robinson was reportedly singled out for refusing to go along with "The Program."
Lisa Payne Wansley, administrative chief for the Bronx district attorney, said the plea bargain came after a three-year investigation of the prison gang.
"Although these two guards were connected to 'The Program,' evidence did not exist tying them to the death of Christopher Robinson," she said.
McKie - who has already spent 21 months behind bars in the case - will receive a two-year term at his Jan. 17 sentencing.
"It's true," he replied when asked if he was guilty of assault. The disgraced officer will have to serve just three more months to finish his sentence.
Nelson, who pleaded to attempted assault, will receive a one-year jail term.
"I think it's a little lenient, but I'm happy that they're being held accountable," said the slain inmate's mother, Charnel Robinson.
"It's bittersweet," said the 37-year-old woman. "I guess I feel there's some level of justice."
A third correction officer and seven other inmates are still awaiting trial in the case.
Five inmates already pleaded guilty to their roles in the operation, with sentences ranging up to 10 years.
Officials were adamant that the guards behavior was an aberation within the prison.
"The New York City Department of Correction holds its workforce to the highest standards of professionalism," said Sharman Stein, a spokeswoman for the DOC. The unlawful actions of the very few should not undercut the daily contributions of the city's 8,500 uniformed men and women who perform their duties with excellence."

Rikers Island is New York City's main jail complex,^[1] as well as the name of the 413.17-acre (1.672 km²) island on which it sits, in the East River between Queens and the mainland Bronx, adjacent to the runways of LaGuardia Airport. The island itself is part of the borough of the Bronx, though it is included as part of Queens Community Board 1 and has a Queens ZIP code.^[2] The jail complex, operated by the New York City Department of Correction, has a budget of $860 million a year, a staff of 7,000 officers and 1,500 civilians to control an inmate population of 14,000. The official permanent population of the island, as reported by the United States Census Bureau, was 11,355 as of 2009.^[3]
The island is thought to be named after Abraham Rycken,^[4] a Dutch settler who moved to Long Island in 1638 and whose descendants owned Rikers Island until 1884, when it was sold to the city for $180,000. It has been used as a jail ever since.^[5]

Graphic: Last footage of Gadhafi alive



Ads by ves Intelligence