Mount Pleasant man won't be corrections officer again after pleading guilty to assaulting inmate in 2020

(WWJ) — A Mount Pleasant man will never be a corrections officer again after pleading guilty to assaulting an inmate at the Isabella County Jail in 2020.

Christopher Cluley, 48 was sentenced Thursday to one year of probation for the in-custody jailhouse assault. In April Cluley pleaded no contest to one count each of aggravated assault and willful neglect of duty.

As part of his plea agreement, Cluley signed an affidavit of decertification and an agreement to not recertify as a corrections officer, according to Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office. That means he will never work as a corrections officer in Michigan again.

In April 2020 Cluley was working at the Isabella County Jail as the administrator in charge when he “interacted with an inmate during a cell transfer” that was a result of a disagreement between the inmate and another corrections officer, according to the AG’s office.

Just outside the cell, surveillance video showed Cluley grabbing the inmate, spinning him around and pushing him into the cell door. He then pushed the inmate into the wall next to the cell door.

After walking him into the new cell, he pushed the inmate to the ground, and the inmate “cried out in pain,” officials said. An x-ray later determined the inmate suffered a fractured left knee.

“Thanks to the work of the Isabella County Sheriff’s Department, the Michigan State Police, and our Public Integrity Unit, Mr. Cluley has been permanently barred from working as a corrections officer in our state and can no longer harm inmates,” Nessel said, per a press release. “My office remains committed to ensuring officers who violate their oaths to protect and serve are held accountable.”

Cluley was placed on administrative leave while the Isabella County Sheriff’s Department conducted an internal investigation. The Isabella County Sheriff’s Department then contacted the Michigan State Police (MSP), which conducted an investigation of its own and forwarded the case to Nessel’s office.