ACI Director A.T. Wall says he will move to have the correctional officers fired if they are convicted.

01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, May 6, 2006

BY W. ZACHARY MALINOWSKI
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Three state correctional officers, including a captain who allegedly forced an inmate to taste his own feces on Valentine's Day, were arrested and charged yesterday with multiple counts of assaulting five inmates in the Adult Correctional Institutions.

The arrests were the result of a three-month investigation launched by authorities after prison officials learned about the feces incident involving inmate Michael Walsh, 30, of East Providence.

State police Maj. Steven G. O'Donnell said that other inmates came forward with allegations that they suffered physical abuse at the hands of correctional officers. State police detectives interviewed those inmates and were able to corroborate the allegations that resulted in yesterday's charges.

The alleged abuse occurred in the ACI's minimum-security unit.

Arrested and charged with simple assault are: Capt. Gualter J. Botas, 37, of 186 School St., Pawtucket, a 17-year ACI veteran, eight counts; Lt. Kenneth J. Viveiros, 53, of 211 Woonasquatucket Ave., North Providence, a 25-year ACI veteran, four counts; and Officer Ernesto Spaziano, 37, of 50 Whipple Rd., Burrillville, a 15-year veteran, one count.

The prisoners allegedly involved were serving short sentences for crimes such as felony shoplifting and drug possession.

The guards were arraigned in District Court, Providence, yesterday morning and released on their own recognizance. They pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges.

ACI Director A.T. Wall said at a news conference at Rhode Island State Police headquarters in Scituate that if they are convicted, he will move to have all of them fired. The three guards and six other correctional officers were suspended with pay on the night of Feb. 16. The three charged remain suspended with pay as their cases wind through the court system.

Wall referred to the three officers charged as "renegade staff," who were "making up the rules as they saw fit" and not representative of the majority of the prison staff.

The investigation involving Walsh and the feces resulted in one count of simple assault lodged against Botas. According to affadavits that state police detectives submitted to the court, the guards are accused of whacking inmates in the head with phone books and a clipboard. Others allege that they were punched in the head, slapped in the face or had packets of soup tossed at them.

The three guards are being represented by Warwick lawyer John D. Lynch Jr., a prominent defense lawyer who frequently is hired by police officers facing criminal charges.

After their arraignments yesterday, Lynch defended the guards and said that they were simply doing their jobs in a difficult environment.

"They're running a prison," he said. "They're not elementary school teachers. They're prison guards."

Richard Ferruccio, president of the 1,300-member Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers, was not allowed to attend yesterday's news conference at state police headquarters. He waited outside and talked to reporters afterward.

Ferruccio said that the union will continue to support the officers, adding that they are entitled to their day in court.

O'Donnell, the state police major, said the results of the state police and ACI investigation have been turned over to the U.S. Attorney's office. There, the FBI and federal prosecutors can review the findings for possible civil-rights violations.

Inmate Walsh, a laborer and father of a 6-year-old girl, is scheduled to be released from the ACI this month. He was sent to prison for violating the terms of his probation stemming from a past shoplifting conviction. Days after the prison guards and staff were suspended from the ACI, Walsh's lawyer called a news conference to announce that he was preparing to sue the prison.

Walsh, through his lawyer, Kenneth A. Schreiber, said he was punished for trying to smuggle cigarettes into the prison. He was strip searched and forced "to take [his own] fecal matter and put it in his mouth," Schreiber said.

With reports from projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson.

bmalinow@projo.com / (401) 277-7019