Report: Mentally Ill Prison Inmate's Eyeball Ripped Out by Officer, Whistleblower Prison Guard Fired

The Miami Herald's Julie K. Brown reports that a prison guard, who blew the whistle on inmate abuse at the facility he worked at, is now paying the price for doing so.

In a detailed report published in the Miami Herald, reporter Julie K. Brown unveils the injustice and fallout a prison guard faced after he blew the whistle on the correctional facility he was stationed at.

According to Brown, John Pisciotta was an officer at the Charlotte Correctional Institution in Punta Gorda, Florida, for the last 3 1/2 years. He was part of the extraction team during a morning in May 2008, when an inmate, who suffered from schizophrenia, was assaulted by an officer in the psych ward.

Here's a brief from Brown's report on Pisciotta's troubling allegations of what transpired on that day:

Kelly Bradley, the psych ward inmate, "was an older man, very frail and mentally ill" according to Pisciotta. He had barricaded himself in his cell with his mattress.
Five officers came in and pinned him down.
"He wasn't trying to fight anybody," Pisciotta claims. "He was just scared. He was a threat to no one."
They cuffed Bradley's wrists and ankles, while one officer, William Hamilton Wilson, "reached toward Bradley's face and dug his index finger into the inmate's eye - several times - until he ripped out Bradley's right eyeball," states Brown's report.
The extraction team at the institution was summoned to the commander's office following this. The commander, Capt. Scott Anderson, reportedly testified he "didn't think there was anything odd about it."
Anderson allegedly ordered the cell cleaned up to make room for the next inmate - the officers' "gloves were discarded, and the gear washed of blood."

Pisciotta reported the matter and Wilson was arrested. But after testifying, Pisciotta was fired and "lost almost everything: his home, his friends, his pension and his career." No one else reportedly came forward - and, according to Brown's article, four of the officers, including Capt. Scott Anderson, were promoted. Two are allegedly still working at Charlotte.

Wilson served five years in federal prison and was released in December.

What do you make of this incident vigilant viewers? Shouldn't certain protections in place for when a whistleblower comes forward? Sound off below.

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