Prison guard charged, investigation continues

A correctional officer at Apalachee Correctional Institution bonded out of jail late last week after being charged with crimes alleged to have occurred while she worked at the prison near Sneads.
Pauline M. Thompson, 33, is charged with unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior, and two counts of the introduction or removal of contraband from a correctional facility.
According to the complaint filed by the DOC Inspector General’s office, Thompson is accused of accepting $100 from an inmate in exchange for taking a letter out of the institution for him.
An investigation and sting operation was launched after the inmate reported Thompson had agreed to take money from him in exchange for sex, according to the affidavit.
The complaint made no further reference to that accusation, and Thompson is not currently charged with any offense specifically related to sex. The information focused instead on events which ensued following that allegation.
On Jan. 14, investigators provided the inmate with five marked and recorded $20 bills.
In addition, the inmate drafted a personal letter, sealed it in an envelope and addressed it to his daughter.
He was fitted with a digital recorder in order to capture his conversation with Thompson, authorities said.
Around 3 p.m. that day, he met with Thompson inside a dormitory of the ACI west unit, where she was assigned to work.
He offered her the money and asked her to mail the letter for him, according to the complaint.
She accepted the money and letter and left the prison at the completion of her shift around 3:55 p.m., investigators reported.
Authorities say she made no attempt to report the money or letter to anyone as she left the prison. She was detained as she walked from the prison to the parking lot.
Confronted with the information that she was in possession of contraband, Thompson was asked to produce the money and complied, according to the affidavit. She also consented to a search of her property and person, and was found in possession of the letter.
The serial numbers on the money she gave the arresting officers were the same as those on the bills investigators had given the inmate, officials said.
The envelope was the same one authorities had copied and returned to the inmate before his encounter with Thompson, according to the complaint.
Thompson, who lives in Marianna, was advised of her rights and declined to make a statement. She was transported to the county jail, but later bonded out to await further court action.
Thompson was hired by DOC in September 2005 and has been at ACI since she was first employed by the department. Her salary was $30,807 and she worked the day shift.
DOC spokesperson Gretl Plessinger said Tuesday that Thompson has been fired, and an investigation into the sex-related allegation is continuing. Although DOC has been unable to contact Thompson, the department has sent her a letter of “extraordinary dismissal” — meaning, Plessinger said, that the circumstances are so “egregious” that normal channels of dismissal can be bypassed for an immediate firing.
According to Plessinger, the firing came as the result of the allegation that Thompson “expressed a willingness to engage in an inappropriate relationship with the inmate of a sexual nature” in exchange for money.
The investigation will likely explore whether Thompson actually had a sexual encounter with the inmate in the past, Plessinger said.