Oct 07, 2013 02:45 PM EDT
Prison Guards Suspended For Holding 'Retard Olympics': Inmates Forced To Eat Spoonful of Cinnamon

Three Pennsylvania correctional officers have reportedly been suspended after being accused of organizing inmate fights and rewarding the victors with food and coffee. 

According to Pennsylvania State Police, York County Prison correctional officers David Whitcomb, 28, Mark Haynes, 26 and Daniel Graff, 37, were all charged with official oppression and harassment on Friday for organizing for the so-called "Retard Olympics."

In an investigation by Pennsylvania State Trooper Robert Hicks, a video surveillance showed Haynes and Whitcomb grabbing an inmate by his back and neck was discovered during an unrelated investigation. The abuse reportedly happened between Jan. 1 and July 1.

The inmate, David Wright, 27, wrote that officers Whitcomb, Haynes and Graff arranged for him to fight another inmate, James Hicks, 27. Wright won the fight and was rewarded with extra lounge food and coffee, according to a state police report.

According to CNN, the inmates were reportedly involved in other bizarre stunts such as drinking a gallon of milk in an hour, eating a spoonful of cinnamon, snorting crushed candy and eating fruit with the peels intact.

The York Daily News reports Wright also said on another instance where he wrestled Graff in a storage closet, and Whitcomb once promised him food if he would allow the officer to punch him in the leg to give him a "dead leg." 

In response, all three corrections officers have denied that any of what Wright and Hicks allege ever occurred.

"I did not participate in any of it, and I did not witness any of this," Whitcomb told The Mercury. "There is no physical evidence, no medical records. They didn't file any complaints when it was supposed to have happened. This is all on the word of an inmate. It blows my mind."

Graff said it never happened and he believes the allegations are part of a get-rich-quick scheme.  

"They've been telling other inmates that they're going to sue the York County Prison for millions of dollars," Graff said. "Personally, I think this is what this is."

Despite the professed consent of the participating inmates, the officers were still charged after an investigation that found "sufficient evidence" of their misconduct," Trooper Hicks told CNN.

"Even though it was consensual, correctional officers were still using the power of their position," Hicks said. "They controlled the distribution of the food and the coffee, and they were using them to entice the inmates to engage in these activities."

According to Hicks, no court date has yet been set.

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