Daniel Davis, Beating of Handcuffed Inmate, Louisiana 2024

Angola, Louisiana – Former Major Daniel Davis, 41, a corrections officer at Louisiana State Penitentiary (LSP) in Angola, was found guilty by a jury today in federal court for beating an inmate who was handcuffed, shackled, and not resisting.

The jury convicted Davis of willfully depriving the inmate of his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. The evidence showed that Davis initiated the beating by yanking the inmate’s leg chains, causing the inmate to fall face-first onto the concrete breezeway. At that point, Davis and the other officers punched, kicked, and stomped on the inmate, leaving the inmate with a bloody gash under his eye, a dislocated shoulder, broken ribs, and a collapsed lung.

Davis was also convicted of conspiring with other officers to cover up the beating by devising a false cover story, submitting false reports documenting that cover story, tampering with witnesses, and lying under oath. Four other officers—former Captains James Savoy, John Sanders, and Scotty Kennedy, and former Sergeant Willie Thomas—have all previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the beating and cover up.

Captains Sanders and Kennedy testified for the government and described the abuse and the extensive cover up.

“Mr. Davis abused the justice system by beating an inmate, writing false reports, and using his influence and power as a corrections officer to encourage others to lie,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Baton Rouge Resident Agency Office and the Louisiana Office of the State Inspector General. The case was tried by Trial Attorneys Christopher J. Perras and Zachary Dembo of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Frederick A. Menner, Jr., of the Middle District of Louisiana.

No date has been set for Davis’s sentencing. He faces a maximum penalty of five years of imprisonment on the conspiracy and perjury counts, 10 years of imprisonment on the excessive force count, and 20 years of imprisonment on each of the remaining obstruction counts.

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