A former Maryland correctional officer was sentenced on June 1 to 33 months in prison and one year of supervised release for conspiring to obstruct justice and making false statements to a federal officer. Jermaine Sturgis, 41, of Laurel, Delaware, was convicted by a federal jury in December 2025 for his involvement in concealing evidence related to an unlawful assault on an inmate by another Eastern Correctional Institution (ECI) officer.
U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Maddox imposed the sentence following the conviction that stemmed from a July 12, 2021, incident where Sturgis and other officers conspired to delete video evidence showing the inmate’s injuries and the use of force by a junior officer. During subsequent investigations, Sturgis also made false statements to state and federal authorities.
Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the sentencing with Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul of the FBI Baltimore Field Office. Hayes said, “This defendant obstructed a lawful investigation by helping conceal the truth about a violent assault. Our system depends on public officials carrying out their duties honestly and lawfully. Unfortunately, Mr. Sturgis failed to comply with this mandate, so now he must pay the price… No one is above the law.”
Dhillon said, “When a correctional officer tampers with evidence or obstructs an investigation into fellow officers, it undercuts the public’s trust in the criminal justice system…” Paul added that Sturgis “not only lied about the assault on an inmate but directed a conspiracy to cover up that assault by deleting evidence.”
Judge Maddox previously sentenced four other former ECI correctional officers who pleaded guilty for their roles in covering up aspects of this case: Samuel Warren received 15 months for assaulting an inmate and obstruction; Neil Daubach received just over one year for witness tampering; David Quillen received two years probation with six months home detention; Daric Evans received two years probation with three months home detention.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office commended investigative work from both federal agents and state agencies involved in resolving this matter—a process which reflects its broader mission serving nearly six million residents across Maryland through prosecution of federal crimes and civil cases as part of its role within the Department of Justice, according to the official website.