N.Y. Ex-Con Goes Back to Jail for Going Back to Jail
One day, Matthew Matagrano, 36, was a corrections investigator, waving around a shiny, gold badge to gain entry into any of New York City's jails. The next, they wouldn't let him leave.
On March 2, 2013, Matagrano, of Yonkers, N.Y., was arraigned on charges that he impersonated a corrections employee to mingle for hours at a time with prisoners at the Manhattan Detention Center, Rikers Island and other city jails. He was also charged with burglary, possession of forged instruments, larceny and promoting prison contraband.
Matagrano is a registered sex offender who was once convicted of sodomy and sexual abuse. He also once reportedly posed as a New York Board of Education worker to gain entry to two schools and go through student files, for which he pleaded guilty to attempted burglary in 2004.
In the criminal complaint presented at his most recent arraignment, prosecutors say he arrived at the Manhattan jail on Feb. 28, 2013 at around 3:30 p.m. and flashed his badge-to get inside. He allegedly stayed until 11 p.m., smoking cigarettes with prisoners in common areas, which was all captured on surveillance cameras, according to the complaint.
The complaint says he also stole a radio from a jail office.
The Associated Press reported that Matagrano hadn't made it clear why he wanted to get into the jail, exactly how many jails he'd compromised or for how long he'd been making a mockery of the jails' so-called security.
Neither Matagrano's court-appointed attorney nor New York's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) immediately commented on his arrest.
A judge set Matagrano's bail at $50,000.
Source: www.correctionsone.com
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