New York City's jails commissioner has fired five guards and a captain. An administrative law judge had recommended they be terminated for the 2012 beating of a handcuffed Rikers Island inmate.
Joseph Ponte (pahnt) says in a statement Wednesday that most correction officers perform their jobs with integrity. He says there is "no room for this type of behavior on Rikers."
Jail investigators found Robert Hinton suffered a broken nose and other injuries for refusing to be escorted in a now-shuttered solitary confinement dorm for mentally ill inmates.
They said guards fabricated a story that the 27-year-old man put one of them in a chokehold to justify the use-of-force.
Union head Norman Seabrook says he'll vigorously defend his members and appeal to get their jobs back.
