WALKER COUNTY, Ala. (WBRC) – A former Walker County corrections officer has agreed to plead guilty to falsifying records related to an assault on an inmate that occurred in September 2022.

According to federal court records, Betty Jo Cooley admitted to covering up unreasonable force used by fellow correctional officer Joshua Connor Jones on a prisoner.

Court documents state that Cooley and an inmate had a disagreement over cell assignments. That’s when Jones hit the inmate in the face with a metal can of pepper spray so hard that it broke the trigger, spraying all three with the chemical, according to court documents.

Court records also say, “No legitimate law enforcement objective justified Jones hitting (the inmate) in the face with a metal can.”

After the incident, Jones, according to federal court records, wrote a false incident report trying to justify his actions. Once Jones wrote the report, Cooley, according to court records, copied the same narrative, even though he knew it was false, to hide the truth from other law enforcement authorities.

Jones pleaded guilty in that case to deprivation of rights under color of law. He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deprive of rights under the law Inquest into the death of prisoner Tony Mitchell. He has yet to be sentenced in federal court.

When reached for comment, Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith said, “We are declining to comment while the investigation is ongoing.”

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