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Matthew Ware, a former Kay County supervisory correctional officer, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for violating the civil rights of two pretrial detainees held at the Detention Center in Oklahoma, officials said in a statement.
According to a press release issued on December 5, 2022, a judge sentenced Matthew Ware, 53, to more than two years in prison after a federal jury convicted him in April for encouraging a white supremacist attack on black inmates.
As per court documents, Matthew Ware, who was fired from his job in 2018, ordered correctional officers to move two black pretrial detainees, identified as D.W. and M.M., to a cell row that housed white supremacists who belonged to the United Aryan Brotherhood in 2017.
Ware willfully endangered the lives of the inmates despite being aware that black prisoners were not allowed to be assigned to the block containing neo-Nazi gangs.
Matthew Ware, a former marine, violated the civil rights of black inmates
In December 2022, Matthew Ware, a former Marine honorably discharged after being shot in the knee, was sentenced to more than two years in prison by a judge for endangering the lives of black inmates during his time as a correctional officer.
In a press release, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said that Ware’s actions violated the civil rights of black detainees. He said:
“This sentence handed down reflects the seriousness of the defendant’s actions and ensures accountability for his unlawful conduct. The Justice Department will continue to hold corrections officials accountable, including those in leadership positions, when they willfully violate the constitutional rights of detainees and inmates in their custody and control.”
As per court documents, Ware deliberately moved the black inmates into cell rows that contained white supremacists. He then ordered his officers to unlock the cell doors of white supremacists at the same time as the doors of the cells that housed black inmates.
The black inmates reportedly suffered several facial lacerations after being attacked by the white gang. Court documents stated:
“Mr Ware responded to his staff’s concerns of violence by saying that the inmates were adults and that ‘if they want to act like animals, they would be treated like animals."
According to the officers and inmates, Ware reportedly abused his position of power and ran the prison through "fear, intimidation, and obsessive control.”
As per Vice, Ware, who is expected to start his sentence in the imminent future, had reached the position of captain before he was fired for violating the rights of his inmates.
