PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — A former Florida Panhandle prison guard has accepted a plea deal and admitted to concealing attacks on inmates in the corrections facility.
While federal charges of cruel and unusual punishment have been dropped against 32-year-old Christopher Blake Christmas, he accepted the plea deal on Monday in Panama City.
The News Herald (http://bit.ly/1ZToWIu ) reports Christmas now faces a maximum of three years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.
Christmas was one of five guards arrested in the August 14 incident at the Northwest Florida Reception Center.
Video from the prison allegedly showed two guards slamming Tatum face-first into the concrete floor while his hands and ankles were restrained. Prosecutors said officers jumped on Tatum and pinned him to the ground on the supervisor's command.
The other guards pleaded guilty.
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