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Read the press release here.

Cook County Jail Guards Charged in Inmate Beating

By Darryl Holliday | February 21, 2013 8:18pm
 Two guards at the Cook County Jail, 3015 S. California Ave. have been charged in the beating of an inmate.
Two guards at the Cook County Jail, 3015 S. California Ave. have been charged in the beating of an inmate.
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Flickr/Zol87

CHICAGO — Two Cook County Jail guards have been stripped of their badges after arranging for two inmates to beat up another prisoner, authorities said.

Department of Corrections officers Delphia A. Sawyer and Pamela R. Bruce were arrested by the Cook County Sheriff's department Thursday and charged with obstructing justice, perjury, official misconduct and mob action.

Sheriff's spokesman Frank Bilecki said an inmate in February 2012 tried to light a cigarette off an electrical plate in Division X, a four-story maximum-security division of the county jail, causing a short circuit that knocked out power to the division.

"People were upset and [Sawyer and Bruce] were quite upset — as a result they talked a couple others into beating him up," Bilecki said.

The investigation "proceeded swiftly" and officials decided to move forward with prosecution in the last couple of weeks, Bilecki said.

Both officers were stripped of their powers after being taken into custody Thursday morning. Each had been employed by the sheriff's department for more than six years.

An internal investigation by the Office of Professional Review is pending.

Sawyer and Bruce will appear in bond court Friday at the county criminal courts building at 11 a.m.