Federal Inmate Sentenced To 14 Years In Prison For Assaulting And Causing Bodily Injury To Three Federal Corrections Officers

SCRANTON- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Thomas Waters, age 37, a federal prison inmate, was sentenced on June 5, 2024, by United States District Judge Malachy E. Mannion to 168 months’ imprisonment for three counts of assaulting a federal officer. 

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, the evidence presented at a three day trial held in January 2024 revealed that on January 18, 2023, while an inmate at United States Penitentiary, Canaan (“USP Canaan”), in Wayne County, PA, Waters assaulted three federal corrections officers, causing bodily injury to each man.  More specifically, the evidence showed that while being counseled for a rule violation, Waters repeatedly struck one corrections officer in the head with his fists.  Then, during this assault, Waters disarmed the officer of his service baton and used it to strike the officer in the head.  When additional corrections officers responded to assist, Waters bit two other corrections officers. 

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Mannion ordered that Waters’ 168-month sentence run consecutively to the federal sentence that Waters was already serving at the time of the assault.  

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Special Investigative Services component within the Federal Bureau of Prisons.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffery St John and Tatum R. Wilson prosecuted the case.

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