Former prison inmate gets $25,000 for beating

A former inmate who claimed guards set him up for a beating following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has been awarded $25,000 by a federal jury for compensatory damages.

Jacques Dupree Miranda is a Muslim who claimed one guard at the Utah state prison released death-row inmate Troy Michael Kell from a cell to attack him while other guards failed to intervene.

Miranda, 34, a convicted robber now out of prison, asked for $1 million from the Utah Department of Corrections.

The U.S. District Court jury in Salt Lake City lowered the request on Friday and refused to award punitive damages.

Miranda is of African-American and French heritage.

Kell, a known white supremacist, squeezed out of his cell on Sept. 20, 2001, when Officer Ryan Healey opened the door slightly from a control panel to allow him to reach a bucket of ice.

Miranda said Kell put him in a choke hold and beat him unconscious. He said he suffered injuries that were disputed at trial — he called them severe, while a lawyer for Healey said they were minor.