A former shift supervisor at McCurtain County Jail in Idabel, Oklahoma, entered guilty pleas to two federal civil rights charges, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
Joseph Nelson Ebert, 35, admitted to conspiring to violate an arrestee's constitutional protection against unreasonable force and to depriving a pretrial detainee of rights while acting under color of law. Both one-count Informations were filed on July 2, 2026.
The conspiracy charge stems from an incident on or about September 15, 2021. The deprivation charge covers a separate incident on or about January 4, 2022, when Ebert physically assaulted a restrained pretrial detainee who posed no threat to anyone, causing bodily injury, according to the Justice Department.
Each count carries a maximum prison term of 10 years and a maximum fine of $250,000. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. attorney's office whose jurisdiction covers the Eastern District of Oklahoma, based in Muskogee.