Court Sentences Prison Inmate To 8 Years Incarceration For Assault Against Another Prison Inmate

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Thomas Roullier, 34, a former resident of Spokane, Washington, and an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution at Herlong, California, ("FCI Herlong") was sentenced today by United States District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller to 8 years in prison for an assault resulting in serious bodily injury to another prison inmate, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.   The Court also ordered the payment of $15,040.34 in restitution to reimburse the United States Bureau of Prisons for expenses incurred in providing medical treatment, transportation, and other services to the victim of the assault. 

According to court documents, on April 26, 2012, Roullier, a Norteno gang member, committed the assault on the victim inmate, a Bulldog gang member, in a recreation area in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) within FCI Herlong.  At the time of the assault, Roullier was one of four handcuffed prisoners (2 Norteno and 2 Bulldog gang members) who had just been escorted into the recreation area.  The prison guard first removed the handcuffs from the two Norteno gang members.  Before the guard could remove the handcuffs from the two Bulldog gang members, Roullier assaulted and severely beat the handcuffed victim.  Within a very short time thereafter, a sufficient number of guards responded, entered the locked recreation area, and secured Roullier.

The victim suffered serious bodily injury, including displaced fractured bones in the face near his left cheek/sinus and a non-displaced fractured bone at the bottom of his left eye socket.  The victim suffered extreme pain, trauma, bruises, headaches, and difficulty opening his mouth.  The victim's fractured and sunken cheekbone near his left cheek/sinus had to be repaired by a physician specialist, who performed facial surgery to lift up the broken and sunken area of the victim's face.

"Judge Mueller's sentence of an additional eight years for the assault of another inmate sends a strong message that such crimes will not be tolerated,” said Acting FCI Herlong Warden G.J. Bissett.  “Sentencing in cases that involve inmate on inmate assaults have a significant effect on the safe and orderly running of correctional facilities.  The sentences imposed in the cases prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office have helped to decrease the amount of inmate assaults that take place in a correctional environment, especially here at FCI Herlong."

This case was the product of an investigation by the United States Bureau of Prisons and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.