OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma - January 14, 2009 - A former jail guard has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for violating the civil rights of a man in custody, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

June 25, 2006, Jarrod Anthony Yates, while working for the Sequoyah County Jail in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, reportedly kneed, stomped and punched arrestee Donald Gene Allen, resulting in serious injuries including a fractured eye socket and severe lacerations that required facial surgery. Yates was suspended while the FBI's Oklahoma City Field Office investigated the case. He was indicted on April 17, 2008 and pled guilty on October 2, 2008. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

The case was prosecuted by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Horn and Trial Attorneys Roy Conn and Michael Khoury from the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.

"While we all appreciate corrections officers have dangerous jobs, that doesn't give them license to abuse their authority with this kind of physical violence," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Grace Chung Becker on Wednesday. "The vast majority exercise appropriate restraint, and because the Rule of Law is paramount in our society, we have an obligation to prosecute those who clearly don't."