A former Mississippi sheriff’s deputy was sentenced on Tuesday to about 20 years in prison for his part in torturing two Black men last year.

Hunter Elward was sentenced by US district judge Tom Lee, who handed down a 241-month sentence. Lee is also due to sentence five other former law enforcement officers who admitted to subjecting Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker to numerous acts of racist torture.

Before sentencing, Lee called Elward’s crimes “egregious and despicable”, and said a “sentence at the top of the guidelines range is justified – is more than justified”. He continued: “It’s what the defendant deserves. It’s what the community and the defendant’s victims deserve.”