Prison guards played "retard olympics" with inmates

Guards at a Pennsylvania prison are accused of organizing inmate fights and cruel challenges in exchange for favors

Published October 8, 2013 2:00PM (EDT)

  (Shutterstock)
(Shutterstock)

Three guards at a Pennsylvania prison face charges, having reportedly staged fights and competitions between prisoners in what they dubbed "the retard olympics." Inmates played along in order to receive special food and extra coffee if they won.

Challenges included drinking a gallon of milk in an hour, eating a spoonful of cinnamon, snorting a line of spicy vegetable powder and drinking a bottle of water with pepper spray foam in it.

HuffPo reported:

Daniel H. Graff, 37, Mark Andrew Haynes, 26, and David Michael Whitcomb, 28, face charges of official oppression and are on unpaid administrative leave, police said.

"The corrections officers arranged fights and stunts to take place under the promise that if the inmates competed or won, they would get extra food and extra coffee," Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Robert Hicks told The Huffington Post.


By Natasha Lennard

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com.

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Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Brutality Inmates Oppression Pennsylvania Prison Prison Guards Retard Olympics