Arshad Aljamailawi – Photo by MDOC

DETROIT — A guard punched an Iraqi American inmate in the face on a bus during a prisoners’ transfer and was suspended for one day only.

Inmate Arshad Aljamailawi, who is said to have charged at the officer after he was assaulted and maced, was ordered to 10 days in detention and 30 days of loss of privileges. His family said he remained in solitary confinement for months after the incident.

Aljamailawi and other prisoners were being moved from the Oaks to the Chippewa Correctional Facility on Oct. 22 when the altercation occurred.

All prisoners are handcuffed and shackled during transport. Seven witnesses testified that a correctional training officer named Johnson punched Aljamailawi in the face when the inmate was seated and not moving. The confrontation started as a verbal altercation the officer provoked, according to witnesses. 

The incident was captured on video, which the state marked confidential for security reasons. But in the misconduct report, which charges Aljamailawi with assault and battery, there seem to be efforts by the investigators to cover up Johnson’s violence.

“The reporter moves toward prisoner where he is seated and appears to make a movement toward prisoner,” the report reads.

However, other inmates say that Johnson did not merely “make a movement” toward Aljamailawi; he punched him. One prisoner said the officer tried to disconnect the video camera on the bus.

An inmate named McCoslin testified that the officer “cold cocked Aljamailawi.”

“CTO Johnson approached inmate Aljamailawi and striked him with a closed fist directly into his facial area,” wrote Nelson, another witness. “As this inmate tried to cover up to avoid getting struck again CTO Johnson began to pepper spray inmate Aljamailawi.”

Despite the overwhelming evidence in favor of Aljamailawi, it was he who got the worse punishment.

Aljamailawi, 26, was sentenced to life without parole after being convicted of first degree premeditated murder of a Detroit man in a fight in 2008. His mother maintains that he was not the one who fired the shots.

According to the family, Aljamailawi has no history of misconduct in prison. 

Saira Aljamailawi, the inmate’s mother, was infuriated that the officer who assaulted her son was only suspended for one day.

The case is still being investigated. 

“How is this possible?” she asked The Arab American News. “How is this fair? He is not eating. He is being mistreated.”

She added that her son fears for his safety from correctional officers who have intimidated him and called him “ISIS.”

“They (have) been threatening me, not feeding me or nothing,” the inmate wrote in a letter to his family.

Dawud Walid, the executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Michigan, said the accusations made by the inmate are troubling and the organization will be looking into the case.

“Whether his allegations of being brutalized by the correction officer are true or not, solitary confinement for a prolonged period of time is cruel and unusual punishment,” Walid said.

The Oaks Correctional Facility, which is investigating the case, did not return repeated requests by The Arab American News for comment.