The News Journal
Posted Friday, May 25, 2007
Two correction officers were charged Thursday after a prisoner's jaw was broken earlier this year after an argument.
The fracture, caused by several punches to his face, was so severe the jaw needed to be wired shut.
Correction officer, Daniel Sosa, 28, of Newark, was charged with throwing the punches.
Sosa and Stephan J. Bruckner, 52, of Hockessin, tried to cover up the incident, a two-month state police investigation found.
A state Department of Correction spokesman said Thursday that Bruckner remains an employee of the penal system while an internal affairs investigation is conducted. An investigation of Sosa has been completed, and he will no longer be employed by the department as of Monday.
The state's prisons have been under scrutiny after a series of News Journal articles and a subsequent U.S. Justice Department investigation that found poor medical and mental health care violated inmates' constitutional rights.
The prison system signed a compliance agreement with the Justice Department last year promising to improve medical and mental health care in prisons.
Former state Superior Court Judge Joshua W. Martin III, now in private practice in Wilmington, serves as independent monitor under the agreement.
On Thursday, state police said Sosa and Bruckner argued with the inmate, housed at Young Correctional Institution in Wilmington, on Feb. 21. During the altercation, police said, Sosa punched the inmate in the face several times, breaking his jaw.
Investigators determined the inmate posed no physical threat to either of the correction officers, state police spokesman Sgt. Joshua A. Bushweller said.
After the attack, police said, the two correction officers attempted to intimidate the inmate, telling him not to report it to prison officials. The two then filed incident reports that did not accurately depict what happened, Bushweller said.
A preliminary review by correction officials indicated the documents may have been falsified and state police were asked to conduct an independent investigation.
Bruckner was subsequently charged with hindering prosecution, falsely reporting an incident to a law enforcement agency and official misconduct with unauthorized exercise of official function. All are misdemeanors.
Sosa faces the same charges as well as second-degree assault, a felony punishable by up to eight years in prison.
Bruckner was arraigned and released on $3,000 unsecured bail, and Sosa on $6,000 unsecured bail.
Last year, another inmate reported that he had been abused by state prison guards.
David L. Kalm, a 56-year-old disabled merchant marine sailor, said he was nearly beaten to death at Sussex Correctional Institution near Georgetown last October.
Kalm, who was serving a 60-day sentence for DUI, said two guards wearing black gloves took turns pounding his head into a cinder block wall until he passed out.
In written reports, the guards said Kalm's injuries were self-inflicted, and Kalm acknowledges an earlier physical confrontation with guards after he refused to be moved to a cellblock where he feared other inmates would harm him. But Christiana Hospital medical staff who examined Kalm concluded that the injuries were suffered during an "assault."
Kalm's medical records show he suffered injuries including a concussion, a moderate coma, a broken nose, a bleeding eyeball, two broken ribs, a punctured lung and extensive bruising. He also suffered injuries to his throat that medical professionals said were caused by repeated blows to his neck or by an object such as a nightstick being shoved down his throat.
Kalm spent seven days recovering in hospitals.
In January, the FBI began collecting preliminary information on the incident. Department of Correction spokesman John Painter said an internal investigation into Kalm's allegations is ongoing.
Kalm, who is legally disabled, has a heart condition, high blood pressure, stomach problems and arthritis in his spine that aggravates his sciatic nerve, causing intense, shooting pain down his leg, according to his medical records. His lungs were damaged while serving in the Merchant Marine, so he uses a "breathing machine" daily to treat a condition similar to asthma.
Contact Esteban Parra at 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.
Contact investigative reporter Lee Williams at 324-2362 or lwilliams@delawareonline.com.
