NYC Correctional Officer Coziness of Inmates Puts Prisons at Risk
Irene GarciaJanuary 7, 2023
NYC Correctional Officer Coziness of Inmates Puts Prisons at Risk
She promised her husband that she would “turn into the girl you like, that freak in the sheets” — private words in most relationships, but a serious legal matter when she’s dealing with a city correctional officer with a Rikers inmate Iceland is spoken.
Christina McIntyre’s relationship with one of the inmates she was assigned to oversee at a Rikers prison was a problem in the eyes of investigators, who caught wind of the alleged workplace romance.
McIntyre’s case is an example of a type of staff misconduct that the City Correctional Authority calls “improper confidentiality” — misconduct that can range from helping an incarcerated friend or relative to romance or sexual contact between correctional officers and inmates .
Insufficient familiarity is difficult for investigators to recognize – as well as the consequences of this behavior. Prison and union officials refused to say what kind of sentences, if any, were imposed on more than a dozen cases uncovered by the Daily News.
McIntyre and the detainee spoke on the phone no fewer than 679 times between July 2020 and January 2021, investigative records from the Daily News show.
Some of their sexually explicit conversations were captured in taped calls. McIntyre continued to see the detainee after his release, investigators noted. A source from the Correction said McIntyre is still employed by the department and has desk duty. Records show that she earned a salary of $89,948 in 2022.
Also read: Former Correctional Officer at New Jersey Women's Prison accused of sexually assaulting inmates
(Todd Maisel/New York Daily News)
Fifteen cases of improper confidentiality investigated in 2020 and 2021 were all referred back to the Department of Justice for disciplinary action, records from The News show.
While the records show that the allegations of inappropriate confidentiality were substantiated to the satisfaction of the Department of Investigation investigators, the data obtained by The News does not show what disciplinary action may have been taken to correct it.
However, many of the officers involved in such relationships were still on the job for at least part of 2022, with some earning well over $100,000, according to good government website SeeThroughNY. These records indicate that an employee was on the payroll for at least part of the year, but do not reflect current employment status.
A spokesman for the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, which represents correctional officers, did not respond to a request for comment about the officers mentioned in the article.
Department of Corrections policies have prohibited improper confidentiality interactions since at least 1996. In 2008, then-Corrections Commissioner Martin Horn issued a department-wide memo warning staff that improper intimacy is a fireable offense and could lead to criminal charges.
“When boundaries are crossed, we become ineffective and the safety of each of us is threatened,” wrote Horn.
Former New York Correctional Commissioner Martin Horn in 2009. (Howard Simmons/New York Daily News)
Horn issued a policy banning “all sexual acts” in city jails aimed at preventing “inmate-to-inmate and staff-to-inmate sexual abuse and sexual threats.”
This policy built on an older Department of Corrections policy, which stated that its staff “shall not engage in undue familiarity with inmates and should not allow inmates to become unduly familiar with themselves.”
One goal of the inappropriate familiarity rules is to prevent the introduction of contraband, said Sarena Townsend, a former Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence, Investigations and Trial at the Corrections Department.
Relationships between an officer and an inmate can develop to a point “where the inmate convinces the officer to bring them something in exchange for something else,” Townsend said.
Inmate demands on prison officials can weaken prison security by undermining the balance of power.
Townsend explained, “Sometimes it’s about threats – ‘I know where you live. I know who your family is, and you better bring… cigarettes or you better bring me drugs. Or I’ll tell my people on the street to mess with your family and mess with you.'”
Sexual relations between female correctional facilities and male inmates are a serious problem, Townsend said.
“A sexual relationship — that takes it to a whole other level. Not only because we’re afraid of what the officer or the inmate might do that would jeopardize that safety, but also because a person who is an inmate doesn’t have the ability to consent,” Townsend said.
Sarena Townsend, Esq., Former Deputy Commissioner of Investigations and Trials at the Department of Justice in Queens in 2019. (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)
Investigators opened a case in June 2020 with a four-page handwritten love letter to an inmate found on a floor of the George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island. Around the same time, correctional officer Samada Brown is said to have been searching for a letter she had lost in the same prison.
Investigators quickly discovered that Brown had written the letter, and they soon discovered that not only had she been in a relationship with the detainee, but had also used two hard-to-trace Burner phones to speak to him, as the records show. Detainees are not allowed to own their own phones.
Brown later told the inmate she didn’t think anyone would find out because she didn’t write any names in the letter.
In an intercepted call, Brown reflected on their “unlikely” relationship. When the inmate later said he couldn’t imagine his life without her, she said, “It hasn’t even started.” On another call that day, she said, “Do you want to do that the first night? Cuddle?”
The Department of Investigation backed up the allegations, noting that she had made “considerable efforts” to hide the relationship. But even after the incident, she remained on the Justice Department payroll for at least part of 2022, being paid $92,073 a year, records obtained by SeeThroughNY show.
George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island (James Keivom/New York Daily News)
Smuggling of contraband is a common outcome of prisoner-official relations.
In a case opened in 2020, officers investigating correctional officer Stacey Hipps for inappropriate familiarity uncovered three officers, a nurse and a captain allegedly involved in smuggling contraband at four different prisons.
They found that Hipps called a former inmate who made 299 calls to fellow employees between January and August 2020. Hipps and the inmate planned to wed in September 2020.
Despite the incident, Hipps was on the payroll for at least part of 2022, being paid $155,905 per year. In a brief phone call, she told The News the incident “never happened” and hung up.
In another case in September 2020, investigators intercepted officer Ava Gaye-Graham’s sexually explicit phone conversations with an inmate. She wired that inmate $350 to buy contraband from another inmate, the Department of Investigation found.
Occasionally, cases involve prison officials dealing with incarcerated relatives.
Department of Investigation records report an investigation into Captain Monique Williams, whose sons were with Rikers in 2021. Williams discussed shipping sneakers to her sons, the records say. Sneakers containing fentanyl and heroin were later sent to their incarcerated sons – but examiners couldn’t prove Williams had sent them.
But investigators backed up an allegation that Williams discussed sensitive law enforcement safety issues with her sons. Williams is currently on office duty.
Correction Captains Association President Patrick Ferraiuolo said he was not briefed on charges against Williams.
Contraband confiscated from inmates was displayed at a press conference on Rikers Island in June. (Shawn Inglima/for New York Daily News)
Research shows that food is also among the items that prison officials might make available to inmates with which they are overly familiar.
Officer Tamar Warren was caught giving contraband shrimp, Philly cheesesteaks, earrings and Bodyworks lotion to a female inmate at the Rose M. Singer Center in 2021. He also sent the woman $600.
Between January 20, 2021 and March 6, 2021, the DOI found that Warren and the detainee had eight phone conversations in which the officer referred to them as “love,” “sweetheart,” “mom,” and “baby.” The pair snuggled on the phone, asked each other about their respective days and said they loved and missed each other, according to investigative records.
Warren had numerous clandestine interludes with other female Singer Center inmates in an office where investigators placed a hidden camera. Warren found out he was under investigation and no longer using the office. Warren was on the Justice Department payroll for at least part of 2022 and was paid at an annual rate of $92,073, according to SeeThroughNY.
Investigators sometimes come across cases where inmates and guards exchange money, but for reasons that aren’t immediately clear. The investigative department was pursuing a lead on an officer when they encountered recorded calls relating to officer payouts in 2021.
In one recording, an official at the Anna M. Kross Center said, “If you want the whole thing, it’s a band [a slang term for $1,000]but you must transfer $750 in advance.”
(Anthony DelMundo/New York Daily News)
Probers identified the officer as Sandeep Kissoondyal, known as “CO Kiss.”
From August 2020 to March 2021, investigators found frequent phone calls between Kissoondyal and former inmates. He has also been seen speaking to inmates during late shifts.
In another series of intercepted calls, a former inmate who spoke to an inmate said that he and Kissoondyal were “going to party soon,” which investigators took to indicate a smuggled shipment. In August 2021, probers intercepted mail to an inmate Kissoondyal had spoken to and found three sheets of paper soaked in fentanyl.
Inadmissible familiarity allegations against Kissoondyal were substantiated. According to SeeThroughNY, he was paid $92,073 in 2022, but The News hasn’t been able to fully confirm he’s still employed by the corrections department. He did not respond to a request for comment.
A secret kiss could be a sign investigators find of an inappropriate relationship. Officer Jeannine Abou-Abdallah was caught on camera kissing an inmate through a food slot at the Anna M. Kross Center in March 2021.
Investigators then found that she let him hang out near a guard’s desk overnight. She was suspended and placed in modified service. The news could not reach Abou-Abdallah.
The messages attempted to contact the officials, who were accused of improper confidentiality in the records they received, but were unable to reach all of them.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
Source
Irene GarciaJanuary 7, 2023
NYC Correctional Officer Coziness of Inmates Puts Prisons at Risk
She promised her husband that she would “turn into the girl you like, that freak in the sheets” — private words in most relationships, but a serious legal matter when she’s dealing with a city correctional officer with a Rikers inmate Iceland is spoken.
Christina McIntyre’s relationship with one of the inmates she was assigned to oversee at a Rikers prison was a problem in the eyes of investigators, who caught wind of the alleged workplace romance.
McIntyre’s case is an example of a type of staff misconduct that the City Correctional Authority calls “improper confidentiality” — misconduct that can range from helping an incarcerated friend or relative to romance or sexual contact between correctional officers and inmates .
Insufficient familiarity is difficult for investigators to recognize – as well as the consequences of this behavior. Prison and union officials refused to say what kind of sentences, if any, were imposed on more than a dozen cases uncovered by the Daily News.
McIntyre and the detainee spoke on the phone no fewer than 679 times between July 2020 and January 2021, investigative records from the Daily News show.
Some of their sexually explicit conversations were captured in taped calls. McIntyre continued to see the detainee after his release, investigators noted. A source from the Correction said McIntyre is still employed by the department and has desk duty. Records show that she earned a salary of $89,948 in 2022.
Also read: Former Correctional Officer at New Jersey Women's Prison accused of sexually assaulting inmates
(Todd Maisel/New York Daily News)
Fifteen cases of improper confidentiality investigated in 2020 and 2021 were all referred back to the Department of Justice for disciplinary action, records from The News show.
While the records show that the allegations of inappropriate confidentiality were substantiated to the satisfaction of the Department of Investigation investigators, the data obtained by The News does not show what disciplinary action may have been taken to correct it.
However, many of the officers involved in such relationships were still on the job for at least part of 2022, with some earning well over $100,000, according to good government website SeeThroughNY. These records indicate that an employee was on the payroll for at least part of the year, but do not reflect current employment status.
A spokesman for the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, which represents correctional officers, did not respond to a request for comment about the officers mentioned in the article.
Department of Corrections policies have prohibited improper confidentiality interactions since at least 1996. In 2008, then-Corrections Commissioner Martin Horn issued a department-wide memo warning staff that improper intimacy is a fireable offense and could lead to criminal charges.
“When boundaries are crossed, we become ineffective and the safety of each of us is threatened,” wrote Horn.
Former New York Correctional Commissioner Martin Horn in 2009. (Howard Simmons/New York Daily News)
Horn issued a policy banning “all sexual acts” in city jails aimed at preventing “inmate-to-inmate and staff-to-inmate sexual abuse and sexual threats.”
This policy built on an older Department of Corrections policy, which stated that its staff “shall not engage in undue familiarity with inmates and should not allow inmates to become unduly familiar with themselves.”
One goal of the inappropriate familiarity rules is to prevent the introduction of contraband, said Sarena Townsend, a former Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence, Investigations and Trial at the Corrections Department.
Relationships between an officer and an inmate can develop to a point “where the inmate convinces the officer to bring them something in exchange for something else,” Townsend said.
Inmate demands on prison officials can weaken prison security by undermining the balance of power.
Townsend explained, “Sometimes it’s about threats – ‘I know where you live. I know who your family is, and you better bring… cigarettes or you better bring me drugs. Or I’ll tell my people on the street to mess with your family and mess with you.'”
Sexual relations between female correctional facilities and male inmates are a serious problem, Townsend said.
“A sexual relationship — that takes it to a whole other level. Not only because we’re afraid of what the officer or the inmate might do that would jeopardize that safety, but also because a person who is an inmate doesn’t have the ability to consent,” Townsend said.
Sarena Townsend, Esq., Former Deputy Commissioner of Investigations and Trials at the Department of Justice in Queens in 2019. (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)
Investigators opened a case in June 2020 with a four-page handwritten love letter to an inmate found on a floor of the George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island. Around the same time, correctional officer Samada Brown is said to have been searching for a letter she had lost in the same prison.
Investigators quickly discovered that Brown had written the letter, and they soon discovered that not only had she been in a relationship with the detainee, but had also used two hard-to-trace Burner phones to speak to him, as the records show. Detainees are not allowed to own their own phones.
Brown later told the inmate she didn’t think anyone would find out because she didn’t write any names in the letter.
In an intercepted call, Brown reflected on their “unlikely” relationship. When the inmate later said he couldn’t imagine his life without her, she said, “It hasn’t even started.” On another call that day, she said, “Do you want to do that the first night? Cuddle?”
The Department of Investigation backed up the allegations, noting that she had made “considerable efforts” to hide the relationship. But even after the incident, she remained on the Justice Department payroll for at least part of 2022, being paid $92,073 a year, records obtained by SeeThroughNY show.
George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island (James Keivom/New York Daily News)
Smuggling of contraband is a common outcome of prisoner-official relations.
In a case opened in 2020, officers investigating correctional officer Stacey Hipps for inappropriate familiarity uncovered three officers, a nurse and a captain allegedly involved in smuggling contraband at four different prisons.
They found that Hipps called a former inmate who made 299 calls to fellow employees between January and August 2020. Hipps and the inmate planned to wed in September 2020.
Despite the incident, Hipps was on the payroll for at least part of 2022, being paid $155,905 per year. In a brief phone call, she told The News the incident “never happened” and hung up.
In another case in September 2020, investigators intercepted officer Ava Gaye-Graham’s sexually explicit phone conversations with an inmate. She wired that inmate $350 to buy contraband from another inmate, the Department of Investigation found.
Occasionally, cases involve prison officials dealing with incarcerated relatives.
Department of Investigation records report an investigation into Captain Monique Williams, whose sons were with Rikers in 2021. Williams discussed shipping sneakers to her sons, the records say. Sneakers containing fentanyl and heroin were later sent to their incarcerated sons – but examiners couldn’t prove Williams had sent them.
But investigators backed up an allegation that Williams discussed sensitive law enforcement safety issues with her sons. Williams is currently on office duty.
Correction Captains Association President Patrick Ferraiuolo said he was not briefed on charges against Williams.
Contraband confiscated from inmates was displayed at a press conference on Rikers Island in June. (Shawn Inglima/for New York Daily News)
Research shows that food is also among the items that prison officials might make available to inmates with which they are overly familiar.
Officer Tamar Warren was caught giving contraband shrimp, Philly cheesesteaks, earrings and Bodyworks lotion to a female inmate at the Rose M. Singer Center in 2021. He also sent the woman $600.
Between January 20, 2021 and March 6, 2021, the DOI found that Warren and the detainee had eight phone conversations in which the officer referred to them as “love,” “sweetheart,” “mom,” and “baby.” The pair snuggled on the phone, asked each other about their respective days and said they loved and missed each other, according to investigative records.
Warren had numerous clandestine interludes with other female Singer Center inmates in an office where investigators placed a hidden camera. Warren found out he was under investigation and no longer using the office. Warren was on the Justice Department payroll for at least part of 2022 and was paid at an annual rate of $92,073, according to SeeThroughNY.
Investigators sometimes come across cases where inmates and guards exchange money, but for reasons that aren’t immediately clear. The investigative department was pursuing a lead on an officer when they encountered recorded calls relating to officer payouts in 2021.
In one recording, an official at the Anna M. Kross Center said, “If you want the whole thing, it’s a band [a slang term for $1,000]but you must transfer $750 in advance.”
(Anthony DelMundo/New York Daily News)
Probers identified the officer as Sandeep Kissoondyal, known as “CO Kiss.”
From August 2020 to March 2021, investigators found frequent phone calls between Kissoondyal and former inmates. He has also been seen speaking to inmates during late shifts.
In another series of intercepted calls, a former inmate who spoke to an inmate said that he and Kissoondyal were “going to party soon,” which investigators took to indicate a smuggled shipment. In August 2021, probers intercepted mail to an inmate Kissoondyal had spoken to and found three sheets of paper soaked in fentanyl.
Inadmissible familiarity allegations against Kissoondyal were substantiated. According to SeeThroughNY, he was paid $92,073 in 2022, but The News hasn’t been able to fully confirm he’s still employed by the corrections department. He did not respond to a request for comment.
A secret kiss could be a sign investigators find of an inappropriate relationship. Officer Jeannine Abou-Abdallah was caught on camera kissing an inmate through a food slot at the Anna M. Kross Center in March 2021.
Investigators then found that she let him hang out near a guard’s desk overnight. She was suspended and placed in modified service. The news could not reach Abou-Abdallah.
The messages attempted to contact the officials, who were accused of improper confidentiality in the records they received, but were unable to reach all of them.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
Source
