Indictment: Guard Repeatedly Struck Inmate, Lied About It

A federal grand jury has charged a deputy warden at Mississippi’s state penitentiary with injuring an inmate in 2016 and lying about it to investigators.

Prosecutors said Melvin Hilson was a member of the K-9 unit at the prison when the inmate was struck and repeatedly knocked to the ground.

The indictment said Hilson falsely claimed in a report that he had found some type of contraband on the inmate. It also accused Hilson of lying about the incident to Mississippi Department of Corrections investigators.