BATON ROUGE — A former correctional officer at Louisiana’s maximum-security prison has pleaded guilty to participating in the beating of a handcuffed and shackled inmate.

Thirty-year-old John Sanders, of Marksville, was one of four officers charged in the inmate’s alleged beating at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola in January 2014.

Federal prosecutors say Sanders repeatedly punched the inmate in the head in retaliation for an earlier incident and then joined other officers in trying to cover up the beating.

Sanders pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a federal civil rights violation and conspiracy. His sentencing date wasn’t immediately set.

Another officer charged in the case — 48-year-old Scotty Kennedy of Beebe, Arkansas — pleaded guilty last November. Two other officers — Daniel Davis and James Savoy — have a trial scheduled for January.

Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2017/09/former_angola_guard_pleads_gui.html