A federal judge last week sentenced the former Rockbridge Regional Jail superintendent to more than four years in prison for taking bribes in exchange for special treatment for one inmate, and for failing to provide adequate care for two others who were in custody.
Judge Norman Moon had previously convicted John Marshall Higgins on charges that he denied medical treatment to inmates who had been beaten and tortured in his custody, and that he gave preferential treatment to a Washington and Lee University student serving time for vehicular manslaughter and maiming.
Moon, ruling via remote audio/video from U.S. District Court in Lynchburg, sentenced Higgins to 51 months on five felony charges, and 12 months on one misdemeanor in the case, with the sentences to run concurrently.
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5/12/21
The former superintendent of the Rockbridge County Regional Jail will spend over four years in federal prison for charges related to federal civil rights violations and public corruption.
The Department of Justice announced that John Marshall Higgins was sentenced yesterday to 51 months in prison.
According to court documents, the 62-year-old Higgins, who was a former member of the Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors, was convicted of six charges last year following a six-day bench trial in U-S District Court.
Among the charges include three counts of deprivation of civil rights for denying medical care to an inmate as well as failing to protect two inmates from physical abuse.
A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced the former Rockbridge Regional Jail superintendent to more than four years in prison for taking bribes in exchange for special treatment for one inmate, and for failing to provide adequate care for two others who were in custody.
Judge Norman Moon had previously convicted John Marshall Higgins on charges that he denied medical treatment to inmates who had been beaten and tortured in his custody, and that he gave preferential treatment to a Washington and Lee University student serving time for vehicular manslaughter and maiming.
Moon, ruling via remote audio/video from U.S. District Court in Lynchburg, sentenced Higgins to 51 months on five felony charges, and 12 months on one misdemeanor in the case, with the sentences to run concurrently.