SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A former Illinois state corrections officer was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in federal prison for his role in the beating death of a prison inmate in May 2018.
Alex Banta, 31, of Quincy was “caught up in the culture” of silence surrounding violence against inmates but there was no excuse for his treatment of 65-year-old Larry Earvin at Western Illinois Correctional Center, U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough said.
In a statement to the court, Banta expressed regret and took responsibility for his actions, but corroborated trial testimony that rough treatment of prisoners was not only condoned but expected at the prison in Mount Sterling, 250 miles (400 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.
Following a four-week trial, a jury convicted Banta in April 2022 of conspiracy to deprive civil rights, deprivation of civil rights, obstruction of an investigation, falsification of documents and misleading conduct.
Trial testimony revealed that Banta and co-defendants Todd Sheffler and Willie Hedden escorted Earvin, handcuffed behind his back, to the segregation unit vestibule where there were no security cameras, threw him so that his head banged into a wall, then kicked, punched and stomped him. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Bass declared that the fatal blow to Earvin came when Banta jumped up and landed on the inmate’s abdomen with both knees.
He faced up to life in prison. Myerscough sentenced him to 15 years on the civil rights charges and five years on the other counts, to run consecutively.
“You were one of the younger officers caught up in the culture at Western of ‘see no evil’ and ‘snitches get stitches,’ which you learned from your superiors, but it in no way excuses your conduct,” Myerscough said. “The governor has replaced the warden and implemented other reforms, so hopefully this culture has changed already.”
Earvin’s beating on May 17, 2018, resulted in 15 broken ribs and abdominal injuries so severe that a…
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