Atlanta officer punched inmate in the face for no reason - then lied about it, officials say

Atlanta correctional officer Gregory McLeod pleaded guilty Wednesday to punching an inmate in the face “without any justification” and then lying about it by filing false reports, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

The plea comes after McLeod was indicted by a federal grand jury in late October for the incident, which occurred in 2016, according to the department.

“A correctional officer should never resort to violence or violate an inmate’s constitutional right to protection from unreasonable force, no matter the circumstance,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division in the release. “The Department of Justice will not tolerate any abuse of an individual’s civil rights under the law, or any effort to obstruct justice.”

David LeValley of the FBI’s Atlanta office wrote that McLeod’s guilty plea was brought about by “key and credible allegations” of abuse from other staff at the prison.

According to the release, Gregory McLeod, 44, was a correctional officer with the rank of lieutenant at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta. McLeod worked as a supervisor at the prison and strip-searched an inmate in front of several other officers. When the inmate complained the search was taking too long, McLeod punched him in the face, according to the release.

Officials wrote in the release that McLeod later admitted to hitting the inmate and also admitted to filing a false incident report and a separate false memo claiming the inmate attempted to punch him and the other officers before being restrained.

“Working in a correctional facility is stressful and often dangerous work,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak in the release. “However, McLeod made an unnecessary and unconstitutional assault on an inmate, and then filed a false report to cover it up. An abuse of the power by any law enforcement officer is unacceptable.”

McLeod will be sentenced on February 20, 2018.

This story was originally published November 24, 2017 at 8:28 AM with the headline "Atlanta officer punched inmate in the face for no reason - then lied about it, officials say."