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Unusually stiff sentence for contraband smuggling in small-town Panhandle jail

What's unusual about this story is not that a small-town Panhandle jailer traded oral sex with female inmates for contraband, but that the local prosecutor pursued the case vigorously and secured a plea bargain for a four-year sentence. He wanted to go for a longer sentence, the DA said, but "he agreed to a plea deal in the case because victims and other witnesses are scattered throughout the state. Some, he said, are serving prison time, and it would cost taxpayers too much to bring them back to testify."That's among the longest sentences I've seen handed out in recent memory for Texas prison or jail guards smuggling contraband or having sex with inmates, certainly in state court. By contrast, at TDCJ prison units guards caught smuggling contraband are put on probation or fired but not prosecuted...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on April 01, 2010 (boomark / email).