Pennsylvania prison guards accused of arranging fights between inmates

State police have charged three Pennsylvania prison guards with organizing fights between inmates and other challenges described by one inmate as the “Retard Olympics.”

Authorities said the guards at the York County Prison encouraged inmates to drink a gallon of milk in one hour, take a punch in the arm without falling and allow themselves to be sprayed in the face with pepper foam.

In exchange, investigators said, the guards would reward them with food and coffee.

David Whitcomb, 28, Mark Haynes, 26, and Daniel Graff, 37, were charged with official oppression and placed on unpaid administrative leave, reported The (Harrisburg) Patriot-News.

State police began their investigation after video footage apparently showing Haynes grabbing an inmate by the neck turned up during their investigation of an unrelated graffiti incident at the prison.

The inmate told state police that the guards set up a wrestling match between him and another inmate in a closet.

Another inmate told state police that he agreed to do “stupid stuff for food and coffee,” including snorting crushed-up candy, drinking water with pepper foam in it and eating fruit with the peels still on them.

He also said inmates wrestled two of the guards and allowed the guards to punch them on the arms and legs until they were numb.

WDAM-TV reported that Whitcomb was shot in the hip earlier this year at a bar by a former inmate.

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