Inmate locked up 6 more years after attacking prisoner at PCF

A 47-year-old Department of Correction inmate, poised to be paroled in a little more than three years, is now expected to stay locked up until 2020 as a result of Putnam Superior Court action this week.

Phillip L. Sadler, who was serving a 30-year conviction for rape in a Marion County case at the time, was charged with two felony counts for attacking a fellow Putnamville Correctional Facility (PCF) in an October 2012 incident.

Sadler admitted he used a modified version of the old lock-in-a-sock improvised prison weapon to beat inmate Jonathan Kroen as he lay in his PCF bunk.

The defendant was charged with battery by means of a deadly weapon (a Class C felony) and as a prisoner possessing a deadly weapon (a Class B felony) for which a habitual offender sentence enhancement was filed.

Represented by Indianapolis attorney Kimberly J. Bacon, Sadler agreed to plead guilty to battery by means of a deadly weapon, according to a plea agreement filed in Superior Court. All other counts were dismissed by the Putnam County Prosecutor's Office.

The agreed-upon sentence was for six years to be served after the remainder of Sadler's sentence in the 1991 rape.

Sadler reportedly attached a DOC-issued metal lock to a belt and wielded it to beat Kroen severely. The attack was reportedly precipitated by the victim referring to Sadler as "a snitch" in regard to reported gang activity among inmates.

Kroen was reportedly a member of the "Hell Raisers," a prison group Sadler blamed for stealing some of his personal property.

After the October 2012 incident Sadler was transferred to Wabash Valley Correctional Facility at Carlisle.

In court this week, he asked to be placed in a DOC facility other than Putnamville or Wabash Valley to avoid further problems with gang members.

The court, Deputy Prosecutor James Hanner advised, can make that recommendation but cannot dictate protocol to DOC.

Given Sadler's prior criminal history, which also includes a 1985 attempted rape and a 1985 burglary, Judge Denny Bridges told him the six-year additional sentence was "a good deal that your attorney's been able to work out for you."

The judge also addressed the notion of transferring Sadler to another DOC facility.

"We can ask them to," Bridges said, "but again, we can't tell them."

Sadler was sentenced for the Marion County rape conviction on March 3, 1992, and prior to the attack on Kroen had been given a possible release date of Nov. 7, 2016.