PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A former Philadelphia corrections officer entered a guilty plea Tuesday in connection with the brutal beating of a man incarcerated at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility.
Former Sgt. Ronald Granville pleaded guilty to charges of a civil rights violation and falsification of records in a 2020 incident.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Granville was supervising four corrections officers in the strip search of a man being held in pre-trial detention.
The charges say that the inmate — identified only by the initials H.V. — cooperated, but when he was naked, the officers assaulted him, injuring his face, ribs and scrotum. The victim required surgery.
Granville allegedly submitted false reports about what happened.
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His attorney, James Funt, says his client is “a remarkable man with a decorated career who is doing the right thing.” He said Granville will have more to say at his sentencing hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.
The investigation of the four other officers continues.
“While those behind bars may have lost their freedom, they retain their humanity — and their civil rights,” said FBI Philadelphia Special Agent in Charge Jacqueline Maguire.
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“Battering a compliant detainee is indefensible, and the FBI is committed to seeking justice for the victims of such violence and other criminal misconduct.”
“A uniform and a badge do not provide a license to brutalize. The U.S. Attorney's Office and our partners at the FBI and DOJ’s Civil Rights Division will devote the personnel and resources necessary to ensure that excessive force cases are investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero.
“As law enforcement, we must maintain the highest standards of conduct to protect the integrity of our criminal justice system and the civil rights of all Americans, while recognizing with gratitude that the overwhelming majority of law enforcement officers do just that every day.”