Mississippi 'Goon Squad' cops get 15 to 45 years in state prison for torturing two Black men

Six former Mississippi police officers who used their power to harass and torture two Black men in January 2023 have been sentenced to between 15 and 45 years in jail by the state for their crimes, adding on to federal sentences previously handed down.

Former Rankin County Sheriff's deputies Brett McAlpin, Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke, and former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield all pleaded guilty to the charges against them in August.

Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker said the officers burst into the home where they were at the time without a warrant, used racial slurs against them, beat them, assaulted them with a sex toy, and shot Jenkins in the mouth.

Elward got 45 years, Dedmon 25 years, McAlpin, Middleton and Opdyke 20 years each, and Hartfield was given 15 years in prison Wednesday.

The sentences will run concurrently with the federal sentences they already received.

Jenkins and Parker have filed a federal civil rights suit for $400 million because of the incident, and the NAACP has called for Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey to resign over the matter.