A former correctional officer at a maximum security prison in Anson County, N.C., says her boss ordered her to destroy a video that may show a staff member using excessive force during a fight with inmates, McClatchy Newspapers report. Richard Neely, who until last week was the administrator of Lanesboro Correctional Institution, has been arrested and charged with obstructing justice for allegedly giving the order to keep the video under wraps. Neely is a 30-year-veteran of the state’s correction system.
Stephanie Miller, a former sergeant at the prison, said in an interview yesterday that Neely instructed her to destroy the video footage taken in 2009. It was the latest in a string of scandals to hit the 1,000-inmate prison 45 miles southeast of Charlotte. Bill Rayburn, one of the prison’s former inmates, won a legal settlement with the state after alleging he was repeatedly pepper sprayed in 2009 after requesting medical help. Twice, Rayburn said, he was sprayed while he was naked.