A former Georgia sheriff convicted of violating the civil rights of people in his custody by unnecessarily strapping them into restraint chairs was sentenced Tuesday to serve a year and a half in prison.

A jury in October convicted Victor Hill — who was sheriff of Clayton County, just south of Atlanta — on six of seven federal charges. Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of three years and 10 months in prison, while defense attorneys asked for a sentence of probation, home confinement and a fine.

Before he was sentenced, Hill told the judge: “My intent was never to harm or injure anybody. My intent was only for safety, proactive safety.”

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross ordered Hill to serve six years of parole where he cannot work in law enforcement or serve as a consultant to a law enforcement agency.

Prosecutors said Hill ordered detainees strapped into restraint chairs at the county jail for hours even though they posed no threat and complied with deputies’ instructions. The use of the chairs was unnecessary, was improperly used as punishment and caused pain and bodily injury in violation of the civil rights of seven men, prosecutors argued.

Defense attorney Drew Findling said restraint chairs are used in jails all over the country

Hill, 58, was suspended by the governor after his indictment and retired after his conviction. He had been a magnet for controversy from the time he first took office as Clayton County sheriff in 2005. He fired 27 deputies on his first day, though a judge later reinstated them. He used Batman imagery in campaign ads and on social media and called himself “The Crime Fighter,” sometimes using a tank his office owned during raids.

https://apnews.com/article/sheriff-victor-hill-sentence-civil-rights-case-287d7373a132e9fb1a95044718f5c2ef