Former DC corrections officer sentenced to 42 months in prison

“Like any other law enforcement officer, the defendant had a duty to protect the constitutional rights of anyone who was in his care and custody,” US Attorney Matthew Graves said in a release announcing the sentencing.

Court records show the assault happened after the detained man, referred to in filings by his initials, got into an altercation with a corrections officer who tried to intervene when the man refused to go to his cell as directed and began to use a telephone in the dining hall.

When the man allegedly struck the officer with his elbow, five members of the corrections department's Emergency Response Team — including Bias, a relatively new officer, 18 months in — responded using pepper spray, and handcuffed the man.

But according to prosecutors, Bias then assaulted the man “intentionally and without provocation” as officers took the man to the medical unit to be examined after the spraying. Prosecutors also said Bias claimed in an initial report after the assault that the victim “fell” into the door frame, a statement they said was contradicted by surveillance video. He was arrested in November 2022 and ordered released ahead of his trial.

The victim has since died of causes unrelated to the assault, according to prosecutors.

US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson also ordered Bias to serve two years of supervised release.

Bias pleaded guilty in March to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law. His attorney, Tony Graham Sr., did not respond to a request for further comment. Reached by phone, one of Bias's family members declined to speak with a reporter.

“To this day, Marcus Bias is remorseful as to what happened with this situation,” Graham wrote in a memo submitted to the court ahead of sentencing. “Marcus Bias suffered because of bad judgment and immaturity. He has learned a valuable lesson. Marcus Bias ponders how within 1-5 seconds of his life, he made the worst decision in his life. He is extremely remorseful and wishes he had a 'do over.'”

As part of the presenting memo, Bias's parents and two church leaders who knew him submitted letters of support. Cheryl Mitchell Gaines, a pastor at The Church in the Field who says she has known Bias since he was a teenager, said she did not think the jail was a good work environment for Bias — but one he chose to be a provider for his family .

Gaines wrote in a letter to the court that she “never had a good feeling about him working there.”

“Marcus was too kind and caring, in my opinion, to work at a place where often the culture of the environment could lead him into problems from both the side of the population and from the side of the 'gatekeepers,'” she wrote. In an interview, she said the situation was more complicated than many would realize and that Bias had not received enough training or support.

“Marcus was the youngest one there…and now he's the fall guy,” she said. “Life and people are complex. All he did was take a job that he probably shouldn't have taken for money to take care of his family.”