He once guarded inmates. Now, he’s headed to prison for violating their rights
A former correctional officer who used to guard inmates will soon be headed to prison himself.
Terrance Reynolds was sentenced to about three years in prison by a Miami federal judge Wednesday on a civil rights conspiracy charge of hitting a youthful offender with a broomstick in a mop closet and punching another inmate in a disciplinary room at a state correctional facility in Miami-Dade County.
Reynolds, who was hired as a state correctional officer in 2015 and fired at the end of 2018, was convicted of that conspiracy charge at his trial last year but acquitted of depriving the constitutional rights of the two offenders at the South Florida Reception Center.
Reynolds, 31, had pulled through his first trial in 2019 when another federal jury deadlocked on all of the charges. He was not as lucky the second time around, however. U.S. District Judge Donald Graham ordered Reynolds to surrender to federal prison on Nov. 9. He remains free on bond.
U.S. authorities condemned Reynolds’ misconduct.
Acting U.S. Attorney Tony Gonzalez said the former corrections officer “not only violated the Constitution, but also the public’s trust.”
Federal prosecutors said Reynolds joined forces with another correctional officer, Brendan Butler, who had pleaded guilty to the civil-rights conspiracy charge and testified against his former co-worker at the state youthful offender facility in Doral. Butler, who resigned after the 2017 inmate attacks, was sentenced to two years in prison.
“The purpose of the conspiracy was to use excessive force and the threat of such force to physically assault and intimidate youthful offenders as punishment for conduct perceived to be unacceptably disruptive and disrespectful,” according to an indictment.
At trial last year, prosecutors portrayed Reynolds as a bully who resorted to brutality to teach lessons to the youthful offenders, who committed serious crimes but were held separately from adult inmates because they were 24 years old or younger. Reynolds, in tandem with Butler, carried out abusive conduct and hid it all from correctional supervisors because there were no surveillance cameras to record the alleged beatings, according to assistant U.S. attorneys Brian Dobbins, Robert Senior and Samantha Trepel.
Reynolds’ defense attorney, Antonio Valiente, said that Butler, 31, was the bad guy in the alleged beatings, not his client.
At trial, prosecutors not only called Butler and other correctional officers as witnesses but also two youthful offenders who were present when the alleged beating of a third inmate in the mop closet occurred on March 17, 2017. They witnessed it because the closet door was open.
According to evidence and court records, Butler and Reynolds took the three youthful offenders into the mop closet of the “Bravo” dormitory to intimidate them. Once inside, the officers confronted them about disrespecting female correctional officers.
When one youthful offender, Andre Lopez, laughed and talked back, Butler slapped him in the face, according to testimony and records. Lopez tried to punch Butler but missed, and then attempted to tackle him. Butler pushed Lopez to the floor of the mop closet and told Reynolds that he wanted to fight him “one on one” — a commonplace occurrence at the Miami-Dade facility but a violation of state correctional rules, according to an FBI criminal affidavit.
After the initial fight in the mop closet, Reynolds took the other two youthful offenders, Yandro Lopez-Malpica and Michael Burcks, out of the closet and returned with a broomstick in hand. Reynolds beat the remaining inmate, Andre Lopez, around the legs, prosecutors said.
They pointed to medical photos taken four days after the assault showing large welts and bruises on Lopez’s lower extremities.
In another incident on March 28, 2017, Burcks was accused of spreading a rumor that Butler had been beaten up by Lopez in the mop closet. For punishment, Burcks was taken to solitary confinement in the “Echo” dormitory.
Butler and Reynolds went to visit Burcks in the Echo dorm, where they found him sitting down and handcuffed in the breezeway, according to testimony and records. Reynolds removed his handcuffs and told him to go to the “disciplinary room.”
Inside, Reynolds and Burcks launched into a one-on-one fight, with the correctional officer punching him in the stomach and forcing him to the floor, according to testimony and records. Butler asked Burcks why he was spreading false rumors about the mop closet altercation, and then slapped and punched him in the stomach.
This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 10:30 AM.
