By Meg Kinnard
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A former supervisor at a South Carolina facility for young offenders has been sentenced to a year in prison for ordering guards to hog-tie two juveniles because they had been making too much noise.
Nicole Jenice Samples, 36, was sentenced on Wednesday, according to federal court records. Last year, she pleaded guilty to two counts of deprivation of civil rights and had faced up to two decades in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.
According to prosecutors, Samples was working at the Department of Juvenile Justice’s main prison in Columbia last year when the juveniles began making noise. As punishment, officials said that she ordered two subordinates to tie their arms to their legs and leave them on their stomachs for two hours, causing them severe pain.
Hog-tying is specifically prohibited under agency policy, according to authorities, and parts of the incident were captured on a surveillance camera at the institution. Prosecutors said Samples later ordered her subordinates to lie on reports related to the punishments.