U.S. Appeals Court: USE OF FORCE BRUTALITY.

• Position: Brief Article

U.S. v. Walsh, 194 F.3d 37 (2nd Cir. 1999). A corrections officer who was convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. [sections] 42, which makes it a criminal act to willfully deprive a person of rights protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States while acting under the color of law. The appeals court affirmed, finding that the officer's acts constituted punishment and rose to the level of a constitutional violation. The corrections officer was found to have stepped on an inmate's penis and to have perpetrated other assaults on inmates. The officer, who was six feet two inches tall and weighed over 300 pounds, instructed an...