Former guard at Big Sandy Prison in Martin County pleads guilty to charges

By Roberta Cantrell

BSN Editor

A former prison Lieutenant is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court at Pikeville after entering a guilty plea in his part of regular harsh beatings of inmates and

violations of civil rights.

According to a plea agreement, Terry L. Melvin was the Lieutenant of the United States Penitentiary Big Sandy (USP Big Sandy), a federal prison located in Inez. Melvin admitted that illegally assaulting inmates by Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) staff was a commonplace occurrence.

In the agreement, Melvin said in Nov. of 2019, E.E. began working as Associate Warden at USP Big Sandy and in June 2020, M.D. was promoted to Captain.

“Under BOP policy, if an inmate requested protective custody, the staff were to place the inmates in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) as the potential threats against them were investigated.” The document stated. “Nevertheless, when M.D. and E.E. took charge, they conspired, along with other Big Sandy senior staff, to use unconstitutional force against inmates who were requesting protective

custody through an “unofficial” policy. They relayed this unofficial policy to Big Sandy lieutenants and senior staff, including the Defendant, at a meeting in early 2021.”

The plea agreement went on to describe how the SHU had

become full which required housing units to lock down and so Captain M.D. and Associate Warden E.E.

instructed the staff to deal with all inmate protective custody request in an illegal matter by using force up on them that they named “swing or kick rocks”.

This phrase meant that either the inmate could return to their housing unit rather than taking up a spot in SHU (kick rocks) or if they refused to withdraw their request as

a part of the conspiracy, after which staff would illegally assault the inmates and falsely claim in paperwork that the inmate had assaulted them (“swung” at them).

Melvin said in his plea that he took part in the conspiracy “spearheaded” by M.D. and E.E. and that several other senior officers did as well. Those included Samuel Patrick, Clinton Pauley, Kevin Pearce Jr. and Ryan Elliott, Melvin said. Those former officers at the prison were all convicted in earlier cases. Melvin said he also

saw other prison employees assault inmates and aid assaults. His guilty plea lists several other supervisors or officers, though only by their initials: L.C., C.M., D.B., E.T., P.P., L.M., D.A., S.H. and J.P. Melvin said in his plea that one day a week, new inmates at the prison were released from a unit called C-4, and that many of them had asked to be put in protective custody. The day those

inmates were released from C-4 became known as “staff assault day,” according to Melvin’s plea. Melvin admitted he used unreasonable force on inmates on “numerous occasions.” In one case cited in Melvin’s plea from April

2021, staffers brought an inmate who had requested to be put in protective custody into an office where there were

no security cameras. As the man, identified as J.B., pleaded for protective custody, Melvin said he was “tired of this,” and turned to another officer in the room, M.C., who punched J.B. in the face, according to the plea agreement. As other officers held J.B. against the wall, Melvin punched him; M.C. punched and kicked him in

the face and stomach; and Pauley, Patrick and Pearce also punched or kicked him, Melvin said in his plea. Melvin knew J.B. was not resisting the attack, but kept telling him to stop resisting. After the assault, Pearce said, “Get a picture before his face swells up,” and others held J.B. up for a photo. Melvin and others then alleged J.B. had hit M.C., which was not true, Melvin acknowledged in his plea. J.B, suffered extensive bruising, cuts to his face, a concussion and pain in his ribs and was hospitalized. Melvin also said in his plea that M.D. and E.E, the captain

and assistant warden, Special Investigations Section (“SIS”) at the prison to help cover up acts of misconduct. In one case, Melvin said he heard E.E. tell an investigator to “clean this shit up” and to “go squash” incidents involving unreasonable force.

SIS members sometimes used the Defendant’s office to

interview inmates, the Defendant heard one SIS employee ask inmates “What’s it going to take to make this go away?” On one occasion in the Defendant’s office the same SIS employee told the Defendant that he had

“staticked” video evidence capturing officer misconduct by using a large speaker to distort the evidence. Melvin

also said that investigator told him he had tampered with a video recording to distort evidence of officer misconduct, and that M.D. changed language in written reports from officers to make it look like inmates had resisted when they hadn’t or done things they didn’t.

Melvin said in his plea that he knew it was wrong to take part in the scheme, but that he and others received promotions for going along with it. Melvin said he, along with other officers received a total of $6,000 to $8,000 in cash in October 2021 at the direction of M.D. His understanding was that they got the money for taking part in the conspiracy. The two charges against Melvin are punishable by up to 10 years each. In its statement, the Bureau of Prisons said it wholeheartedly supports holding employees accountable for misconduct “to the fullest

extent of the law,” and said it is actively rooting out such misconduct. The agency said it also is important to point out that “the vast majority of our employees are hardworking, ethical, diligent corrections professionals, who act with integrity daily and want those engaging in misconduct to be held accountable.”

The Big Sandy News has since received emails from

families who fear their family members are still being assaulted, making allegations of stabbings, constant lockdowns making it impossible for long periods of time

before they are able to speak with their family members, medical abuse/neglect, deprivation of food, inhumane

treatment from guards and the warden’s refusal to answer them when they ask for a welfare check on inmates they haven’t heard from.

Melvin is scheduled for sentencing March 14 at 11 a.m.