Two former prison guards at the Columbia Correctional Institution won’t have to go behind bars for their roles in the choking and beating of an inmate in his cell last year. A judge sentenced 64-year-old Russell Goldsmith and 47-year-old Michael Thompson to probation. Prison officials say the two beat an inmate who’d spit on Goldsmith last October and then lied about it. Both had pleaded no contest to charges against them. Goldsmith resigned and Thompson was fired.
