Former U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent alleges the Federal Bureau of Prisons has been “subjecting him to conditions tantamount to psychological and physical torture” since he began serving a 33-month prison sentence in June 2009. He additionally alleges that at the Lake Butler Reception Center for intake into the Florida Department of Corrections he was physically and mentally abused by Florida state prison guards, forced to “helplessly” listen to the screams of a man being “violently raped” in an adjoining cell, and forced to “strip naked and perform a painful and repetitive series of humiliating exercises.” Kent, a former federal judge in Galveston, is asking a judge to vacate and correct the sentence he’s currently serving in a Florida state prison. Kent’s allegations are contained in the motion to vacate, set aside or correct his sentence and in a graphic memorandum supporting the motion he filed Aug. 2. “It’s the most outrageous treatment of someone that I’ve ever seen by the Bureau of Prisons,” says Kent’s criminal-defense attorney, Dick DeGuerin of DeGuerin & Dickson in Houston. Ed Ross, a public affairs specialist for the BOP, says the agency declines comment on the allegations in Kent’s motion and memorandum. A spokesman for the Florida Department of Corrections did not immediately provide a response to Kent’s allegations. Kent alleges the BOP has ignored the “intended sentence” he received from U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson of the Northern District of Florida. On May 11, 2009, Vinson, sitting by assignment, sentenced Kent to 33 months in prison. Vinson recommended that Kent participate in the BOP's substance abuse treatment program (RDAP), which, if successfully completed, would give Kent a 12-month credit on his sentence. Kent alleges the BOP has “officially denied Kent admission into RDAP” because he was sober during the 12 months preceding his arrest. Kent alleges the BOP further ignored Vinson's sentence by arbitrarily classifying Kent as a “sex offender,” even though the prosecutor dismissed sexual allegations against Kent. In 2009, Vinson sentenced Kent after the former Galveston federal judge earlier had pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice as part of a plea deal. Kent wrote in the memorandum, “Contrary to the public interest, The Federal Bureau of Prisons has subjected Sam Kent to abusive psychological and physical conditions that have jeopardized his ongoing recovery from severe depression and alcoholism, while arbitrarily prohibiting him from participation in rehabilitative programs.” Kent alleges in the memorandum that he has spent 58 days in solitary confinement for nondisciplinary reasons, and the BOP falsely classified him as a “sex offender,” which prevents him from participating in educational programs. Kent alleges his sentence violates due process under 28 U.S.C. §2255 because Vinson mistakenly believed the BOP had discretion to admit Kent into the RDAP program when it had no discretion “due to its own arbitrary rules." Kent writes that Vinson mistakenly believed the BOP would not classify Kent as a sex offender; it would not force Kent to serve a portion of his sentence in solitary confinement; that Kent’s level of security would not prevent him from being placed in a minimum-security camp; and the BOP would not ship him off to the Florida Department of Corrections without maintaining direct oversight. Vinson declines comment through a court spokesman, who says it is “unlikely” Vinson will hold a hearing on Kent’s motion. Kent alleges in the motion that he initially was serving his sentence at the federal medical facility in Devens, Mass., but in October 2009 he was transferred to the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections. Kent alleges that during much of September and October 2009, when in transit from Massachusetts to Florida, he was unable to communicate with his wife or DeGuerin. DeGuerin says Kent is currently at the Demilly Correctional Institution in Polk City., Fla., a Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) institution. Kent is not listed as an inmate on the FDOC Web site, and a spokesman at Demilly says he could not immediately say where Kent is being held. However, Ross, the BOP spokesman, confirms that Kent has been “sent to a state facility.” According to the BOP Web site, Kent is held at the CCM Orlando in Florida. However, DeGuerin says Kent is definitely at Demilly. Peter Ainsworth, a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice who helped prosecute Kent, did not immediately return two telephone messages. The charges against Kent stemmed from a complaint his former case manager in Galveston, Cathy McBroom, filed with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2007. Her attorney, Rusty Hardin of Rusty Hardin & Associates in Houston, declines comment on Kent’s motion.
-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys
Just another day in the life of a prisoner in Florida.
Posted by: Robert D. Kilgore, San Antonio | August 04, 2010 at 05:14 PM