Long jail terms for officers who tortured black men in Mississippi

Former Rankin County sheriff’s deputies Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, Daniel Opdyke and former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield (Rogelio V Solis/AP)

Sentencing has concluded for the six white former officers in the US state of Mississippi who pleaded guilty to breaking into a home without a warrant and torturing two black men.

High-ranking former deputy Brett McAlpin, 53, was the fifth former law enforcement officer sentenced this week by US District Judge Tom Lee after pleading guilty to the attack, which involved beatings, repeated uses of stun guns and assaults with a sex toy before one of the victims was shot in the mouth.