By Taylor Six
Lexington Herald-Leader
LEXINGTON, Ky. — A former guard at a federal prison in Lexington has been given probation after assaulting an inmate and then falsifying reports to cover it up.
Ryan Carnahan, 32, was given credit for time served and placed under three years of supervised release after being convicted of deprivation of rights resulting in bodily injury and making a false report. He was sentenced Sept. 21.
He pleaded guilty to the charges May 19 and was released on bond the same day.
Carnahan was previously a correctional officer at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, which serves as a men’s and women’s federal facility on Leestown Road. According to its website, the prison houses a total of 1,252 inmates.
Guard slapped, punched inmate
In June 2025, Carnahan was working at FMC Lexington when he went into the Special Housing Unit cell of an inmate after getting into an argument with that inmate, according to his plea agreement.
Carnahan was with two other officers who all entered the cell without the inmate, or his cellmate, being placed in handcuffs, according to court documents.
Carnahan slapped the inmate in the face when he entered the cell, according to his plea agreement. The inmate hit Carnahan, who punched the inmate back.
After the fight, Carnahan wrote in a report that the inmate was handcuffed at the time. In addition, Carnahan said he was searching the cell when the inmate “slipped his handcuffs” and assaulted him, the plea agreement states.
Carnahan admitted these were false statements that he made to over up the assault.
Lexington guard’s assault ‘erodes the trust,’ prosecutors say
In a sentencing memorandum filed by federal prosecutors, they asked Judge Karen Caldwell to consider a two-year sentence. Carnahan originally faced 20 years in prison for the charges.
“When officers of the law perpetrate assaults and then lie about them to cover themselves, it erodes the trust of the incarcerated population and their families, and the public trust in law enforcement officers and the rule of law itself,” prosecutors argued. “A sentence of not less than 24 months in prison is necessary in this case to deter other Bureau of Prisons correctional officers and to promote respect for the law.”
Carnahan’s attorney, Paul Croley, said his client “lost his temper,” but that nothing could “undo what he did in that cell.”
Croley requested probation for his client, pointing out that Carnahan resigned from his job at the prison, pleaded guilty and worked to find new employment while on bond. Croley said Carnahan was a decorated military veteran with medical conditions that required extensive monitoring.
“Carnahan does not ask this Court to excuse any of it. He waived indictment, pled guilty to an Information charging both the false report and the deprivation of rights, and admitted the government’s statement of facts in full,” Croley said.
“He resigned from the Bureau of Prisons. He has sworn, under oath and by agreement, never again to seek employment as a police officer, jailer, correctional officer, military police officer, or deputy sheriff, and has furnished that affidavit to the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council and the Bureau of Prisons. Whatever this Court does (at sentencing), Mr. Carnahan will never again wear a badge. That much is already decided, and he decided it himself.”
Another former guard charged in the incident, Jonathan Grady Vago, pleaded guilty to one count of destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in a federal investigation July 1 , according to court documents.
Vago’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 29 at 1 p.m.
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