OFFICER ARRESTED FOR BRINGING CONTRABAND IN JAIL
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 —A probationary correctional officer at the Cook County Jail was freed today on $10,000 bond after an internal investigation found him in possession of several illegal items inside the jail while he was working, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced.
Dwayne Jones, 25, of the 10300 block of Walden Parkway in Chicago, is charged with three felonies: two counts of possession of contraband in a penal institution and one count of officer misconduct.
Jones, hired in August, had been working the midnight shift in Division 4, a minimum-security, gang-free division at the jail.
Early Monday, investigators with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office of Professional Review – working on a tip – approached Jones while he was on a tier at the jail. In his bag, investigators found 10 grams of suspected marijuana, a cell phone and charger, earphones and several DVDs, including episodes of last year’s Discovery Channel series “Cook County Jail” and the ongoing MSNBC series “The Squeeze,” which focuses on the roles of the sheriff’s gang intelligence officers inside and outside the jail.
Jones was immediately arrested and removed from the jail. Because officers are on probationary status for their first year of work, he was immediately terminated.
Jones denied the marijuana was his. It is believed he planned to watch the DVDs on a computer used to track inmate information. Officers are prohibited from possessing electronics while in the jail. Particularly, cell phones are valuable contraband for detainees because all phone conversations made on phones inside the jail are recorded by sheriff’s investigators.
Jones appeared in bond court on Tuesday. His next court date is set for April 6.
