A former Missouri prison guard who assaulted an inmate and also possessed child pornography was sentenced to seven years in prison Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White.

On Oct. 28, 2021, after a verbal disagreement with an inmate about a poster that was damaged during a search of his cell, Carl Hart ordered the victim out of his office in the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre. Later, when the victim did not immediately return to his cell during a lockdown, two other corrections officers pepper-sprayed the victim. The victim went to the shower to wash off the spray. Hart followed the victim into the shower and struck the victim there and again after the victim had left the shower and was on the ground, handcuffed and compliant. Hart was a sergeant and had worked for the Department of Corrections for 10 years at the time.