Cigarettes, Cocaine: Nail 6 Jail Staffers Over Illicit Sales

Cigarettes, Cocaine
Nail 6 Jail Staffers Over Illicit Sales

By REUVEN BLAU

The Department of Investigation April 26 announced the arrest of three Correction Officers, two cooks, and a Nurse's Aide working on Rikers Island for allegedly taking bribes ranging from $50 to $1,000 to smuggle contraband cocaine and cigarettes to inmates.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow 'BETRAYAL OF THE PUBLIC TRUST': Investigations Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn laments that a jailhouse black market in cigarettes has become 'a highly lucrative corruption issue' as she announces the arrest of two Correction Department staffers for selling tobacco products to inmates. The arrests marked the first time employees - Correction Officer Glenda Glenn and Health and Hospitals Corporation Nurse's Aide Cleveland Porter - were formally charged with accepting money to bring inmates cigarettes and loose tobacco since the city initiated its smoking ban in March 2003.

'A Corruption Issue'

At the press conference announcing the arrests, DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn noted that the Department of Correction has had a difficult time enforcing the ban. "The illicit sale of tobacco and cigarettes has become a concern and a highly lucrative corruption issue in the jails," she remarked. "As a result of today's arrests, we are discussing with Corrections ways to address this concern."

She noted that individual cigarettes can be sold for as much as $20 and that bags of loose tobacco, which can be purchased for $2 at newsstands, are going for $40 to $50 on Rikers Island.

Correction Officers are currently allowed to smoke in designated areas on the island, but Correction Commissioner Martin F. Horn may be looking to change that policy. "I wouldn't rule anything in or anything out," Mr. Horn said April 27.

Union officials representing correction officers said they would oppose changes that may include limiting how many cigarettes officers can bring onto Rikers.

"I would have a problem with that because you are having the assumption that the officer is crooked" asserted Peter D. Meringolo, the president of the Correction Captains' Association.

Seabrook: Leave at Door

Norman Seabrook, the president of the Correction Officers' Benevolent Association, echoed that sentiment, although he told reporters at City Hall that one possibility was to have officers leave cigarettes at the main entrance to the prison to which they are assigned.

A Correction insider said that Mr. Horn had planned to put cameras at magnetometers where officers enter jail facilities. But according to the source, the move was scrapped after it was opposed by Mr. Seabrook, a claim Mr. Horn denied.

Camera Proposal

"If they are on camera at least they would know who brought in cigarettes," the insider said. "There was talk about searching every Correction Officer."

All of the arrested workers have been suspended, DOI noted. Four of the six DOC employees were charged with taking bribes to smuggle small amounts of cocaine as well as tobacco from investigators posing as inmates' girlfriends. The Correction Officers charged are: Eric Jones, Gary Heyward, Anthony Guzman and Cook Ahmad Abdul Hakim.

"While the actions of these six defendants are disgraceful, there is something in the way of a silver lining in the way in which these cases were developed and carried out," Ms. Hearn said. "Critical to our success were tips received from DOC staff members and inmates that these illegal transactions were taking place at Rikers."

Face 7 Years

Ms. Glenn and Mr. Porter, who were charged with smuggling tobacco and accepting a bribe, face up to seven years in prison if convicted.

The other four suspects, who were charged with agreeing to bring cocaine to inmates, face up to life in prison if convicted of the most serious offenses.

"They now find themselves in an extremely unpleasant situation," Ms. Hearn said. "Where they once oversaw or provided services to inmates, these six are now on the other side of the law. They now face terms of incarceration in the very jails where they worked."

She added, "Their actions are a betrayal of the public trust."

In March 2003, DOI carried out a similar sweep and arrested seven employees: two COs, three cooks, a drug counselor, and a Teacher's Aide for smuggling drugs into the jails where they worked. "Within a few months of the arrests, all seven pleaded guilty and were sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 45 days to six years," Ms. Gill Hearn remarked.

Deputy Correction Commissioner Richard White stressed that the most DOC staffers are "honest and they disapprove of this type of behavior." He continued, "And that's why those who saw it did come forward along with the inmates and informed the proper authorities."