Ex-Mississippi prison guard pleads guilty to federal charge in 2019 inmate beating

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A former Mississippi prison guard pleaded guilty to a federal charge Thursday in the 2019 beating of an inmate, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Jessica Hill pleaded guilty to deprivation of an inmate’s rights by using excessive force when she was a corrections officer at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.

Hill beat an inmate with a pepper spray canister and repeatedly punched the inmate in the head, the indictment said. The inmate was not resisting and was on the ground in the fetal position while being beaten and kicked.

Hill faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, authorities said. Her sentencing is set for Oct. 25. A second officer indicted in the case pleaded guilty earlier this year and is set for sentencing in September.