State Correctional Officers Charged with Using Their Position for Personal Gain
The Alabama Department of Corrections says it’s arrested five correctional officers on charges of using their positions as correctional officers for personal gain following a three-month investigation at the Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore.
ADOC says it started its investigation after getting information of a suspected bribery scheme involving officers and inmates. In return for giving inmates drugs and cellphones, investigators found that the inmates were using the cellphones to illegally purchase items for the officers.
Authorities have identified the following officers who were arrested and charged in the case:
Joshua Alexander, 26, of Hayneville
Ronald Dickerson, 23, of Montgomery
Patrick Jones, 42, of Montgomery
Leonard Scott, 31, of Montgomery
Jarod McDowell, 29, of Wetumpka
ADOC says its investigation revealed the officers accepted bribes ranging from home electronics, clothing, and automobile accessories; to a cruise purchased by inmates who were using contraband cellphones for creating online money accounts that facilitated the scheme. There are pending charges against the inmates involved as well.
ADOC says it has increased facility inspections and searches and is in the process of installing new body scanners in its facilities for finding and detecting contraband. The department is considering trained canine units as an option for uncovering the contraband cellphones.
To further address the problem at the national level, ADOC Commissioner Jeff Dunn and corrections directors from other states met with FCC officials in Washington, DC in March to evaluate available technologies that could one day render them ineffective inside prisons.
Dunn said the ADOC has made it a top priority to eliminating corruption and finding solutions for making the contraband cellphones inoperable inside state prisons. In 2016, ADOC seized more than 3,500 illegal cellphones and made over 70 contraband arrests.
The public can report a corruption claim to the Department of Corrections online by going to www.doc.alabama.gov, or by calling the ADOC Corruption Hotline number at (866) 293-7799.
