Alabama: WHNT in Huntsville reported on December 16, 2022, that a Morgan County Jail detainee was charged with assaulting a guard. Ashley Nicole Taymon, 36, had gotten into an altercation at the Community Corrections Office five days earlier and was taken to a hospital. There she burst from a bathroom and shoved the guard watching her, Sandra Barnes, yelling that she was “not going back to jail.” Barnes used her Taser on Taymon, and the two got into a physical altercation, during which Taymon allegedly struck Barnes repeatedly in the face before the guard was able to restrain her. Taymon is now charged with third-degree escape and second-degree assault in addition to theft charges from a December 2020 purse-snatching during a church service.

Arkansas: A detainee who was at large after his third jail escape in two years was captured on Christmas Day 2022 by Sebastian County Sheriff’s deputies — who then posted his picture on their Facebook page, with another image superimposed of Santa checking his Naughty List. Earlier, KFSM in Fort Smith reported that Jeromy Call, 38, crawled through a vent and escaped the Crawford County Detention Center on November 30, 2022. At the time, he was awaiting transfer to the state Department of Corrections (DOC) to begin a ten-year sentence that was handed down in September 2022 for convictions of weapons possession and theft. He had no reported history of violence. But he also reportedly escaped the LeFlore County Detention Center in February 2021, while held there on felony burglary charges. Another earlier escape was reported for Call in October 2021 from a jail in Poteau, Oklahoma.

Arizona: A guard at the Arizona State Prison in Buckeye was arrested on December 12, 2022, when he was charged with possession of child pornography. KPNX in Mesa reported that Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Miguel Dominguez, 25, at work, after finding the illicit materials during an investigation. The guard then admitted to being part of a messaging application group chat that required users to exchange kiddie porn. In the chat, Dominguez allegedly said he was “curious” about content showing adults sexually abusing children. The sheriff’s office was still looking into his electronic devices. Investigators also claimed that Dominguez confessed to “mistreat[ing]” prisoners at the lockup.

California:Two California prisoners were killed in two days in early October 2022, in separate incidents of prisoner-on-prisoner violence, according to the Merced Sun-Star. On October 4, 2022, Felipe Rodriguez, 36, was killed in the recreation yard at California State Prison in Sacramento. Two prison-made weapons were recovered. Investigators named Selso E. Orozco, Jr., 41, and Mike A. Calderon, 36, as suspects in the murder. Rodriguez was serving life sentences for attempted murder and kidnapping resulting in death. Orozco is serving a 23-year sentence for robbery. Calderon is serving a non-parolable life sentence for first-degree murder. In a separate incident the next day at Salinas Valley State Prison, Robert Tunstall, 64, was attacked and killed on the recreation yard. Another prisoner-made weapon was recovered, and Lawrence Adams, 42, was named a suspect in the murder. He was sentenced in 2007 to life as a ‘third striker’ for arson and other charges. While incarcerated, he has been sentenced to additional time for two attacks on other prisoners. Tunstall was sentenced in 1976 to life in prison with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder.

California: A doctor at San Diego County’s Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility was charged with involuntary manslaughter on October 26, 2022, for allegedly refusing to provide medical treatment to a detainee who died while detoxing from heroin. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Friederike Von Lintig, 57, allegedly saw 24-year-old Elisa Serna twice on November 11, 2019, deciding without examining her that she was fabricating complaints. Serna died that evening, while a jail nurse allegedly watched and did nothing. For that, Danalee Pascua, 37, was previously charged with involuntary manslaughter in November 2021. She and Von Lintig face up to four years in prison if convicted. Pascua was relieved of duty at the jail for not providing Serna assistance. But she won the right to continue practicing medicine while awaiting trial on bail. Serna was one of 16 people who died in San Diego County jails in 2019. The county has continued to notch record numbers of jail deaths, 18 in 2021 and 19 more in 2022. Its jail mortality rate is the highest of any large California county. [See: PLN, Nov. 2022, p.1.]

District of Columbia: DCist reported that on November 30, 2022, a former guard at the DC Jail was charged with assaulting a handcuffed pre-trial detainee. While working at the jail in 2019, Marcus Bias allegedly slammed the unnamed victim’s head into a metal door frame. If convicted, he faces up to ten years in prison. Two other guards at the jail were also recently charged with smuggling drugs into the lockup. Beverly Williams, 52, was arrested in September 2022 on charges of smuggling, conspiracy and bribery. [See: PLN, Dec. 2022, p.63.] Johnson Ayuk, 31, was arrested on similar charges in February 2022. [See: PLN, Apr. 2022, p.62.] The district saw eight prisoner deaths in 2022, half of them attributed to drug overdoses.

District of Columbia: A guard at the jail in Washington, DC, was arrested on December 17, 2022, on federal charges he embezzled funds from the guard’s union. The Washington Post reported that Andra Parker, 64, was chairman of the Labor Committee at the DC DOC in 2018, when he bought four plane tickets to New York City before ever asking the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations if there was room for more attendees in a training seminar the school was holding that week. Told that the event was already full, Parker didn’t cancel the plane tickets. Instead he allegedly spent $7,000 from an account created by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) for his group to stay at the Times Square Hilton Garden Inn, attend The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway play, and see an NBA game between the Wizards and Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Parker is also accused of spending union funds on four tickets to a Diana Ross concert in DC’s Maryland suburbs on September 25, 2018. An indictment unsealed on December 19, 2022, charged him with wire fraud. FOP representatives had no comment.

Florida:On December 1, 2022, former Brevard County Jail guard Amony Robillard, 31, was sentenced for taking a man hostage at gunpoint and holding him naked to extort money — which the guard demanded in repayment for his loss in a bad cryptocurrency investment made on the victim’s advice. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the unnamed 34-year-old victim was lured to an Airbnb vacation rental in Orlando by text messages promising sex from Robillard’s 19-year-old girlfriend on November 19, 2021. Once the man was naked, but before any intimacy could begin, Robillard emerged armed with two semiautomatic pistols and held him hostage for three hours until he signed a contract promising to pay the jail guard $30,000. Robillard even arranged for a third person claiming to be a notary to come and witness the signature. Videos found on his cellphone showed him pointing a gun at the man and repeatedly threatening his life. He was sentenced to five years, less 367 days for time already served, on convictions of robbery with a firearm, extortion with a weapon and false imprisonment. A member of the Army National Guard who also hosted a popular love connection program on Haitian radio, Robillard was fired from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office after his arrest.

Ecuador: New Age World reported that an Ecuadoran prison warden was shot to death on December 1, 2022. Santiago Loza had been on the job at Pichincha 1 prison in Quito less than a month when he was set upon by motorcyclists while driving. His short tenure started on November 9, 2022, yet it saw riots that broke out on November 18, 2022, during which ten prisoners died. The nation’s prison struggles with overpopulation, with some 32,000 prisoners overwhelming about 1,500 guards. The country announced on November 28, 2022, that 1,461 new guards would be added. Ecuador has seen more than 12 prison riots since February 2021, resulting in the deaths of some 400 prisoners.

Georgia: A former guard at a state prison near Atlanta was arrested on December 8, 2022, on charges of raping a prisoner, reported Now Habersham. The guard, Cameron Larenzo Cheeks, 24, was charged with violating his oath of office and rape for the alleged sexual assault of a prisoner in the showers at Lee Arrendale State Prison on December 5, 2022. The unnamed victim was left with physical injuries from the attack. Cheeks was fired and has been held since July 1, 2022, the day before charges against him were filed.

Hawaii: The Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now reported that a former state prison guard in Hilo was sentenced to eight years in prison on December 5, 2022, for his part in the beating of a prisoner in the yard at Hawaii Community Correctional Center. The former guard, Jason Tagaloa, 31, was accused along with three others, Jonathan Taum, 50, Jordan DeMattos, and Craig Pinkney, 38, in 2015. The four were reportedly part of a violent group of guards who called themselves the “Alpha Dawgs.” They were fired in 2016. The four were found guilty of breaking prisoner Chawn Kaili’s nose in the beat-down, which also fractured his eye socket and jaw. The federal Department of Justice (DOJ) said Tagaloa was the most brutal of the three, savagely hitting Kaili and kicking him in the face when he tried to cover it. The former guard was also accused in the separate assault of another prisoner. Tagaloa and the other guards were also accused of an 18-month cover-up of their attack on Kaili. Tagaloa, Taum and Craig were convicted of civil rights violations on July 8, 2022, while DeMattos had by then taken a plea agreement. [See: PLN, Oct. 2022; p.64]

Idaho:On November 28, 2022, a man who fatally beat a fellow detainee at Idaho’s Madison County Jail was sentenced to 27 years in prison for the murder. East Idaho News reported that Robert Pompa, 27, killed 62-year-old Eddie Blaine Stacey in a fight over an electronic tablet used to communicate with family and friends on October 8, 2021. At the time, Pompa was jailed on charges of drug trafficking and unlawful firearm possession. Stacey was serving a 90-day sentence on a misdemeanor alcohol charge. His murder was partially captured on jail security video, which showed Pompa striking Stacey 16 times with his fist before the older man fell to the floor. Stacey then lay there in a pool of blood for five minutes until he died. No one present offered to help, though Pompa received praise from some other detainees as he walked away. He blamed his behavior on the tablet, which he told the court is a “lifeline” for those in jail, adding with no apparent sense of irony, “that’s how we stay sane.”

Illinois: On November 30, 2022, a former assistant warden at the Stateville Correctional Center was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting guards at the prison. The Ford County Chronicle reported that Edward Jacob, 45, faces five counts of criminal sexual abuse. He had been fired on May 10, 2022. However, a spokesperson for the state DOC did not confirm that the firing was connected to the allegations. The charges came after a 19-month investigation began on April 27, 2021. That found Jacob allegedly sexually abused a female guard on August 26 and 27, 2020, and that he allegedly sexually assaulted another female guard on the same day that the investigation was initiated. Another guard was granted a protective order against Jacob on April 28, 2021, after claiming that Jacob had assaulted her in his office the day before.

Indiana: On December 21, 2022, a state prison guard in New Castle was charged with assaulting a handcuffed prisoner. The Muncie Star Press reported that Samual Wiley Moore, 27, faces counts of battery resulting in moderate bodily harm and official misconduct for punching the unnamed 37-year-old in the face while he was restrained on March 8, 2022. The state DOC investigated the incident and found video to corroborate the allegations. It showed the prisoner swearing at Moore for tightening his handcuffs before the guard assaulted him, fracturing his cheekbone. Moore reportedly claimed that he feared for his safety, afraid that the prisoner would bite, spit on or headbutt him. DOC claimed that he was not being “truthful.”

Kenya: A prison guard in Nairobi was beaten to death by a mob on December 24, 2022, Citizen Digital reported. The guard, Ken Kavunga Wali, and two other men allegedly robbed a woman on the street that day, relieving her of a phone and other items before climbing aboard a motorcycle and attempting to flee. Wali was allegedly armed with a pistol and 15 rounds of ammunition during the incident. But as he and the other two tried to get away, the woman called out to bystanders, who chased after the motorcycle and sent it into a skid before it fell down. Wali’s accomplices were able to escape before the group reached the wreck. But Wali was caught and assaulted, fatally it turned out, before police were able to intervene. A manhunt later initiated for the alleged accomplices was on-going.

Louisiana: A detainee in the St. Mary Parish Jail fatally shot himself in the head with a jail guard’s gun, after the two got into an altercation at the parish courthouse on December 12, 2022. Newstimes reported that the detainee, Chad Williams, 34, grabbed the gun and turned it on himself. No one else was injured in the incident. State police opened an investigation. A spokesperson said video and eyewitnesses accounts would be available to aid investigators.

Massachusetts: The U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts announced on December 20, 2022, that a top guard with the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at the Federal Medical Center at Devens was convicted of beating a mentally ill prisoner who was restrained at the time. A jury reached the verdict against Seth M. Bourget, 42, at the end of a trial that lasted just five days, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported. He was found guilty of beating the unnamed and handcuffed prisoner with a shield in June 2019, leaving him with “serious head injuries” that required 12 staples to close a wound in the back of his head. Bourget was arrested and charged for the assault in February 2020. [See: PLN, June 2021, p. 62.] He faces a maximum fine of $250,000, a maximum prison sentence of ten years, and up to two years of supervised release.

Mexico: After spending less than a day in a cell at Coyuca de Catalán prison in the state of Guerrero, a prisoner identified as Samuel N. was freed by a group of around 80 armed attackers on December 7, 2022. El País reported that the prisoner, also known as “El Vago,” had been charged with a kidnapping in the state capital earlier in the year. When the small army arrived, it took the lockup’s director prisoner, disarming guards to temporarily gain full control of the prison. There was no gunfire reported during the ten-minute siege, but eight other prisoners were also reportedly able to escape. The attackers allegedly kidnapped two prison directors as they were out getting food for prisoners. However, the identity of the group remains unclear. Prisons across the country have faced problems including prisoner violence and understaffing.

Mississippi: On December 2, 2022, a former state prison guard and a former case manager in Pearl were indicted by a grand jury on charges they physically assaulted a prisoner. WAPT in Jackson reported that the guard, Jessica Hill, and the case manager, Nicole Moore, both worked at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility on July 11, 2019, when they allegedly beat the unnamed prisoner. Hill allegedly punched her and hit her with a pepper-spray cannister. Though she wasn’t fighting back, Moore then allegedly kicked her. Both Hill and Moore are charged with deprivation of rights under color of law. They face up to a decade in prison if convicted.

Missouri: A former prison guard in Bonne Terre was indicted in October 2022 for violating a prisoner’s civil rights and also for possessing child pornography. KFSV in Cape Girardeau reported that Carl Hart, 36, was accused of physically assaulting a prisoner at Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center on October 28, 2021. The prisoner, who reportedly “did not pose a threat” at the time of the assault, sustained injury during the attack. Hart was also allegedly in possession of child pornography between April 21, 2018, and June 29, 2022, for which he faces additional charges in St. Francois County Circuit Court.

Missouri: On December 1, 2022, a state prison guard at Jefferson City Correctional Facility was awarded damages for an assault by a prisoner on July 19, 2022. KJLU in Jefferson City reported that Kent Riley ordered prisoner Gavin Syring to get into his cell, but Syring refused and knocked the guard to the ground. He then beat Riley, leaving the guard with injuries that prevent him from working again, according to a civil suit he later filed in Cole County Circuit Court. At the time of the altercation, Syring was serving an 18-year sentence for first-degree assault and other crimes. The court awarded Riley $1.5 million for the assault, plus another $500,000 to his wife, Jennifer. It was unclear how they would collect from the prisoner, who still faces charges from the incident. See: Riley v. Syring, Mo. Cir. (Cole Cty.), Case No. 22AC-OC04053.

New York: On December 15, 2022, a state prison guard in Stormville was arrested on suspicion of covering up another guard’s alleged assault on a prisoner. The Poughkeepsie Journal reported that Rosita Rossy, 49, was accused of helping fellow guard Taj Everly cover up the beating of the unnamed prisoner on May 28, 2020. Everly, 32, was arrested and charged in October 2022 for his role in the alleged assault, which took place at Green Haven Correctional Facility. Rossy is accused not only of filing an incorrect report but also of ordering two guards under her supervision who witnessed the incident to do the same. Rossy’s report claimed the prisoner hit Everly first, confirming Everly’s earlier report. Everly resigned in June 2021, as the investigation into the incident unfolded. If convicted, both guards face up to 20 years in prison.

New Zealand: A guard at Auckland Prison was allowed to proceed with a lawsuit on November 10, 2022, accusing the Australian DOC of failing to keep her safe on the job. Stuff reported that Sharon Irwin had both arms broken on October 24, 2020, when prisoner Hemi Te Poono, 38, broke out of his cell in the prison’s maximum-security wing. The unprovoked attack was made possible only because Te Poono, a serially violent prisoner regarded as one of the country’s most dangerous, was able to damage the door to his cell. He was sentenced for the attack on October 26, 2021. She is suing DOC for $4.5 million.

Ohio: The Marysville Journal-Tribune reported on December 6, 2022, that a former state prison guard was charged with “sexual contact” with a prisoner. Elijah Tyrell Stevens, 23, faces counts of sexual battery for the incident at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville.

Ohio: A former guard at the Richland County Jail was indicted on December 15, 2022, for his role in the September 2019 death of a detainee. The Mansfield News Journal reported that Mark D. Cooper was charged with reckless homicide and involuntary manslaughter against the detainee, Alexander Rios. Rios could be seen in surveillance video footage when guards went to his cell to place him in a restraint chair. Rios, a father of two, had been arrested for an alleged domestic violence incident, and there was concern he had become suicidal in custody. In the video, no less than five guards could be seen stepping and kneeling on Rios, punching him in the head and pressing him to the concrete floor while they handcuffed him. Rios could be heard gasping for air as a guard stood on him with the full weight of his body. But in his incident report, Cooper claimed that Rios seemed to possess “super human strength” as he resisted the guards. Rios died at a hospital eight days later, allegedly of “excited delirium.” [See: PLN, Oct. 2022, p.60]

Oklahoma:On August 24, 2022, convicted child molester Corey Fore was sentenced to additional life terms after pleading guilty to using the computer at his prison job to download child pornography. KOKH in Oklahoma City reported that while held at James Crabtree Correctional Center, Fore worked at a call center operated under contract by Oklahoma Correctional Industries (OCI), until he was caught with child porn on his work computer in March 2022. OCI earns millions of dollars for the state DOC from contracts that bill prisoner labor at market rate, though the incarcerated workers earn just 43 cents per hour. Of DOC’s 21,700 prisoners, only about 1,200 — just over 5% — work for OCI. Of those, just 47 worked on another project that caused alarm: scanning student photos from high school yearbooks. Of the 47, though, only 28 were convicted of crimes serious enough to warrant a life sentence. In news reports filed over the incidents, none expressed concerns about stealing jobs from non-incarcerated Oklahomans or paying slave wages for prisoner labor.

Pennsylvania: On December 13, 2022, a guard at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility was arrested for allegedly smuggling contraband. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Damon W. Joyner, 43, was arrested by the Delaware County Narcotics Taskforce when he arrived for work. Tucked into his waistband, investigators then found three bags full of various drugs, including tobacco products, marijuana, Tylenol, and Suboxone. After his arrest, Joyner allegedly claimed that the smuggling was started for a detainee, Anthony J. Pierre, 29, before other detainees joined in. Pierre and his girlfriend, Jessica L. Desimore, 24, were also charged in the scheme. Desimore is accused of supplying the contraband to Joyner.

Pennsylvania: The Lancaster Patriot News and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that a former Allegheny County Jail guard turned himself in to police on December 19, 2022, after being accused of smuggling drugs into the lockup. Raymond Toomey, 34, was charged with criminal conspiracy and possession with intent to deliver contraband, among other crimes. He was reportedly caught after another guard became aware of an improper relationship Toomey had with a detainee, Lamar Castile, 42, who was then found with synthetic cannabinoids. Toomey’s house and car were searched by police, turning up a cellphone, money, and more drugs suspected to be related to the accused crimes. Within two days, Castile was arrested, along with William Gilliam, 33, the suspected supplier of the contraband. Both were charged with conspiracy and contraband, among other crimes.

Pennsylvania: A jail guard at the Lackawanna County Prison was arrested on December 23, 2022, on suspicion of smuggling drugs into the facility. WYOU in Scranton reported that police were tipped off about a smuggling ring that included Austin Clark, 24. They then took him into custody when he arrived at the jail for his shift, finding him with cigarettes and 167 packets of Suboxone strips. He is accused of smuggling the contraband into the jail and faces counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, criminal use of a communication facility and possession of a controlled substance. Authorities claimed that Clark had made a total of six “transactions” to smuggle contraband, for each of which he was paid bribes ranging from $500 to $1,000.

South Carolina: A jail guard in Darlington County was arrested and charged on December 1, 2022, accused of receiving and passing contraband to an unnamed detainee. WMBF in Myrtle Beach reported that Larry Green, 29, faces counts of misconduct in office and furnishing or possession of contraband after allegedly accepting unidentified items from a detainee at the Darlington County Prison Camp in October 2022. Green was accused of returning the contraband to the detainee the very next day after having previously “removed” it.

Texas: KBMT in Beaumont reported that a federal prisoner went missing on December 16, 2022, from a satellite camp of the Federal Correctional Institution in Beaumont. The prisoner, Enrique Uriega Jr., 43, was serving a ten-year sentence for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine at the time of his disappearance. An investigation was launched shortly after. Uriega is male, white, with black hair and brown eyes, 5-foot-6-inches tall and weighing about 210 pounds. The minimum-security prison camp houses just under 500 male prisoners, who supply labor to the main facility and “off-site work programs.”

Texas: KTBS in Shreveport, Louisiana, reported that a former Texas prison guard at the Telford Unit was arrested on December 15, 2022, for allegedly participating in a bribery scheme at the prison. Candra Gray resigned in 2021 over an allegedly inappropriate relationship with an unnamed prisoner. She is now accused of participating in a bribery scheme with that same prisoner. Yet Gray was not the only guard implicated. Former guard Ki-Jona Wells was also accused of being part of the scheme. Earlier in 2022, Gray allegedly began paying Wells to smuggle drugs into the facility for the prisoner. Both former guards were handed counts of prohibited substances in a correctional facility and bribery. Wells was also caught with child pornography on September 14, 2022, and given counts related to that crime as well. Both former guards could be in prison up to two decades if convicted.

United Kingdom: On December 17, 2022, the Daily Mail reported that a prison guard pleaded guilty to having a relationship with a prisoner in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The guard, Jennifer Gavan, 27, admitted having a relationship with prisoner Alex Coxon, 25, from April to July 2020 at HMP Berwyn. During that period she also allegedly smuggled a phone to him, using it to send him nude selfies. Coxon is serving time for robbery and drug charges. The relationship was reportedly uncovered when prison authorities found the phone with the nude images while he was trying to pass it across the hall to another prisoner. There was even a photo of the guard and the prisoner kissing. It was noted during trial that Gavan had struggled with her job during the COVID-19 pandemic, was dealing with self-confidence issues, and was sometimes the only guard for a wing of 80 male prisoners. The judge, noting she seemed remorseful and otherwise smart and dedicated, sentenced her to eight months in prison.

Washington: On December 16, 2022, a federal prison guard in Seattle was sentenced for obstruction of justice and possession of an illegal firearm. DOJ reported that Joshua Adam Shuemake, 27, was convicted in September 2022 after a trial lasting just four days, during which he was found in violation of a court order not to possess a gun. Shuemake was banned from having a firearm after a domestic violence incident in April 2021. As a consequence, the guard was required to certify under oath that he had no such weapons. But he came under investigation for an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner and other misconduct, and he was then caught with a firearm repeatedly while moonlighting as a security guard at a restaurant. A subsequent search of his home turned up a handgun. Shuemake tried to claim it wasn’t his residence and even attempted to get friends to lie on his behalf. He was sentenced to a year and a day in prison.

West Virginia: On December 13, 2022, a former jail guard in Greenwood was sentenced for selling drugs to detainees. WBOY in Clarksburg reported that Joshua Quinn, 28, who is a resident of Ohio, pleaded guilty in October 2022 to a single count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and buprenorphine, an abusable substance used to treat opioid addiction. He admitted during trial to selling contraband, including drugs, to detainees at the jail from September 2020 to February 2021. He was sentenced to a year and a day for the crime.

West Virginia: A former federal prison guard in Preston County was sentenced on December 8, 2022, for conspiracy and bribery. WV News reported that Eli Scott Villers, 29, was found guilty of conspiring with prisoner Jarrail Lamont Smith, 30, to smuggle tobacco into the prison in exchange for money paid through Cash App. Smith is serving a 15-year sentence for an August 2016 conviction on counts related to underaged prostitution. He was relocated to a different prison after investigators uncovered the scheme with Villers, which reportedly ran from September 1, 2018, to February 25, 2019. For his role, Smith was handed an extra 57 months in prison. Villers was sentenced to five years and three months in prison. 

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