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News in Brief:
Colorado: On November 1, 2006, Lashawn Terrell, 36, a guard at the Denver Reception and Diagnostic Center was arrested and charged with raping a female prisoner at the facility over a five month period whenever the prisoner came to work at the facility.
Florida: On April 10, 2007, Bradley Barbier, 23, went to the Martin County jail to announce he was going to serve a weekend sentence. Jail guards told him he was not scheduled to serve the sentence and Barbier came to the jail anyways and was ?loud and rude?. He left after jail guards threatened to lock him up. Barbier then broke into a deputy?s van in the jail parking lot and stole a purse. He was then duly imprisoned.
Florida: On July 24, 2007, Terry Alexander, 20, a Broward county jail prisoner, was convicted in state court of indecent exposure for masturbating while alone in his cell. He was then sentenced to 60 days in jail, consecutive to the ten year sentence he was already serving for armed robbery. In reaching its verdict the jury found that the Broward county jail cell was a ?limited access public place.? Both the Broward and the Miami-Dade jails have announced they will prosecute prisoners who masturbate.
Florida: On November 14, 2006, Pinellas county assistant state attorney Fred Taylor, 36, was arrested and charged with indecent exposure of sexual organs. While investigating reports of illegal sex acts in Taylor Park in Largo, an undercover police officer reported that while he was speaking to Taylor in a bathroom at the park another man entered the men?s room, the officer left and upon returning a few minutes later both men were masturbating in front of each other. Taylor resigned as a prosecutor the next day.
Florida: On October 31, 2006, Nick Ferrio, 40, and Christopher Pursell, 34, guards at the Corrections Corporation of America run Hernando county jail were arrested and charged with hitting jail prisoner Victor Mammano on the face and head while trying to extract information from him. They also slammed Mammano to the ground, stomped on his hands and crushed his fingers. Ferrio also kicked him in the groin and when he fell to the floor Pursell kicked him for good measure. The abuse continued afterwards. The guards were fired shortly after the September 6 attack when Mammano filed a complaint about the assault.
Illinois: In January, 2007, the United States Penitentiary at Marion was reduced from a maximum security lock down prison to a medium security prison housing 900 prisoners. Marion became infamous when it opened in 1963 to replace the prison in Alcatraz as the federal government?s highest security prison. In 1983 the entire prison was placed on lockdown and it remained that way until its conversion to medium security earlier this year.
Minnesota: On April 12, 2007, James Sheppard, 56, a guard at the Blue Earth county jail was charged with two gross misdemeanors for attacking prisoner Jeremy Hansen, 26, in his jail cell. A surveillance video showed Sheppard entering Hansen?s cell, taking his bible, thumping him on the face with it and then, according to the complaint, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him against the cell bars. Sheppard reported the incident and was suspended before being charged with misconduct by a public officer and mistreatment of an inmate.
Nevada: To deal with prison overcrowding, on April 10, 2007, Parole Commission Chairwoman Dorla Salling announced that more than 200 prisoners who were illegal aliens, mostly from Mexico, and serving time for non violent drug and property offenses would be turned over to the Immigration Customs Enforcement agency for immediate deportation. Prison officials said that deporting illegal immigrant prisoners could save the state up to $4 million per year.
New Jersey: On April 13, 2007, Anthony Hunter, 26, a guard at the Hudson County Corrections Department was arrested and charged with official misconduct after he gave an unidentified prisoner due to be transferred to a state prison a handcuff key as well as cigarettes and possibly a cell phone.
New York: On April 8, 2007, Duwinn McClelland, 43, an employee with the city Department of Corrections was indicted in state court on charges that he used his workers compensation account to pay for to internet porn sites, for a total of $4,200 over a 42 month period. McClelland used the handle ?John Awesome? to subscribe to the services Chocolate Tails and Bare Black for $49.95 a month since November, 2003. McClelland has been on disability leave since 1993.
New York: On February 2, 2007, an unidentified 34 year old guard at the Greenhaven Correctional Facility committed suicide by shooting himself while on duty in a guard tower at the prison.
Tennessee: On February 27, 2007, an unidentified guard at the Northeast Correctional Complex was attacked and held hostage for six hours by prisoners Billy Grubb, 32, and Bradley Johnson, 25, after the prisoners escaped from their cells in the prison?s maximum security unit and locked themselves into the housing unit with him, after breaking out his two front teeth. Grubb and Johnson agreed to surrender to authorities and release the guard unharmed if they received some cigarettes. Prison warden Howard Carlton said: ?They got them some cigarettes, they smoked them and went back to their cell and locked themselves back in.? The prison is a smoke free facility.
Texas: On April 11, 2007, former Tarrant county jail guard Donald Woodall, 59, was sentenced to five years probation after pleading guilty to fondling a female prisoner in a storage room. If he successfully completes probation the sex offense will be expunged from his record. As part of the probation Woodall was ordered by the court to send a letter of apology to the victim.
Texas: On July 26, 2007, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice bus on I-45 in Conroe caught fire requiring the evacuation of the 33 prisoners riding on it. No one was injured during the fire.
Texas: On November 29, 2006, Dallas jail officials foiled an escape plot by Mark Noriega, a jail prisoner convicted of child molestation. Noriega convinced an unidentified 14 year old girl to bring him a bag of tools to the jail. The girl brought the tools to the jail, Noriega then lowered a rope made of bed sheets through a cell window he had smashed out and hoisted the bag of tools into his cell. The girl returned home and confessed to her mother who then called police. Jail guards found Noriega busting a bigger hole in his cell wall on the jail?s fifth floor using the tools he had just received. The girl was arrested and charged with aiding an escape.
West Virginia: On May 5, 2006, Jessica Ann Cyrus, 29, a guard at the Northern Regional Jail in Moundsville was arrested on charges she had sex with a male prisoner at the jail and gave him a cell phone.
Florida: On April 10, 2007, Bradley Barbier, 23, went to the Martin County jail to announce he was going to serve a weekend sentence. Jail guards told him he was not scheduled to serve the sentence and Barbier came to the jail anyways and was ?loud and rude?. He left after jail guards threatened to lock him up. Barbier then broke into a deputy?s van in the jail parking lot and stole a purse. He was then duly imprisoned.
Florida: On July 24, 2007, Terry Alexander, 20, a Broward county jail prisoner, was convicted in state court of indecent exposure for masturbating while alone in his cell. He was then sentenced to 60 days in jail, consecutive to the ten year sentence he was already serving for armed robbery. In reaching its verdict the jury found that the Broward county jail cell was a ?limited access public place.? Both the Broward and the Miami-Dade jails have announced they will prosecute prisoners who masturbate.
Florida: On November 14, 2006, Pinellas county assistant state attorney Fred Taylor, 36, was arrested and charged with indecent exposure of sexual organs. While investigating reports of illegal sex acts in Taylor Park in Largo, an undercover police officer reported that while he was speaking to Taylor in a bathroom at the park another man entered the men?s room, the officer left and upon returning a few minutes later both men were masturbating in front of each other. Taylor resigned as a prosecutor the next day.
Florida: On October 31, 2006, Nick Ferrio, 40, and Christopher Pursell, 34, guards at the Corrections Corporation of America run Hernando county jail were arrested and charged with hitting jail prisoner Victor Mammano on the face and head while trying to extract information from him. They also slammed Mammano to the ground, stomped on his hands and crushed his fingers. Ferrio also kicked him in the groin and when he fell to the floor Pursell kicked him for good measure. The abuse continued afterwards. The guards were fired shortly after the September 6 attack when Mammano filed a complaint about the assault.
Illinois: In January, 2007, the United States Penitentiary at Marion was reduced from a maximum security lock down prison to a medium security prison housing 900 prisoners. Marion became infamous when it opened in 1963 to replace the prison in Alcatraz as the federal government?s highest security prison. In 1983 the entire prison was placed on lockdown and it remained that way until its conversion to medium security earlier this year.
Minnesota: On April 12, 2007, James Sheppard, 56, a guard at the Blue Earth county jail was charged with two gross misdemeanors for attacking prisoner Jeremy Hansen, 26, in his jail cell. A surveillance video showed Sheppard entering Hansen?s cell, taking his bible, thumping him on the face with it and then, according to the complaint, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him against the cell bars. Sheppard reported the incident and was suspended before being charged with misconduct by a public officer and mistreatment of an inmate.
Nevada: To deal with prison overcrowding, on April 10, 2007, Parole Commission Chairwoman Dorla Salling announced that more than 200 prisoners who were illegal aliens, mostly from Mexico, and serving time for non violent drug and property offenses would be turned over to the Immigration Customs Enforcement agency for immediate deportation. Prison officials said that deporting illegal immigrant prisoners could save the state up to $4 million per year.
New Jersey: On April 13, 2007, Anthony Hunter, 26, a guard at the Hudson County Corrections Department was arrested and charged with official misconduct after he gave an unidentified prisoner due to be transferred to a state prison a handcuff key as well as cigarettes and possibly a cell phone.
New York: On April 8, 2007, Duwinn McClelland, 43, an employee with the city Department of Corrections was indicted in state court on charges that he used his workers compensation account to pay for to internet porn sites, for a total of $4,200 over a 42 month period. McClelland used the handle ?John Awesome? to subscribe to the services Chocolate Tails and Bare Black for $49.95 a month since November, 2003. McClelland has been on disability leave since 1993.
New York: On February 2, 2007, an unidentified 34 year old guard at the Greenhaven Correctional Facility committed suicide by shooting himself while on duty in a guard tower at the prison.
Tennessee: On February 27, 2007, an unidentified guard at the Northeast Correctional Complex was attacked and held hostage for six hours by prisoners Billy Grubb, 32, and Bradley Johnson, 25, after the prisoners escaped from their cells in the prison?s maximum security unit and locked themselves into the housing unit with him, after breaking out his two front teeth. Grubb and Johnson agreed to surrender to authorities and release the guard unharmed if they received some cigarettes. Prison warden Howard Carlton said: ?They got them some cigarettes, they smoked them and went back to their cell and locked themselves back in.? The prison is a smoke free facility.
Texas: On April 11, 2007, former Tarrant county jail guard Donald Woodall, 59, was sentenced to five years probation after pleading guilty to fondling a female prisoner in a storage room. If he successfully completes probation the sex offense will be expunged from his record. As part of the probation Woodall was ordered by the court to send a letter of apology to the victim.
Texas: On July 26, 2007, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice bus on I-45 in Conroe caught fire requiring the evacuation of the 33 prisoners riding on it. No one was injured during the fire.
Texas: On November 29, 2006, Dallas jail officials foiled an escape plot by Mark Noriega, a jail prisoner convicted of child molestation. Noriega convinced an unidentified 14 year old girl to bring him a bag of tools to the jail. The girl brought the tools to the jail, Noriega then lowered a rope made of bed sheets through a cell window he had smashed out and hoisted the bag of tools into his cell. The girl returned home and confessed to her mother who then called police. Jail guards found Noriega busting a bigger hole in his cell wall on the jail?s fifth floor using the tools he had just received. The girl was arrested and charged with aiding an escape.
West Virginia: On May 5, 2006, Jessica Ann Cyrus, 29, a guard at the Northern Regional Jail in Moundsville was arrested on charges she had sex with a male prisoner at the jail and gave him a cell phone.
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