CONNECTICUT
A federal judge sentenced a former Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury worker to a year and a day in prison for participating in a bribery scheme involving the release of an inmate to a halfway house, officials said.
U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea on Tuesday sentenced Kisha Perkins, 43, of Waterbury, for soliciting a cash bribe from an inmate in 2013 in exchange for the inmate’s early release to a halfway house, officials said.
Perkins was employed as a case manager at the prison, officials said.
At that time, Perkins held the job title of “Unit Counselor” at FCI Danbury and did not have administrative authority to recommend inmates for early release, officials said.
Perkins explained that her co-worker was needed to complete the scheme because the co-worker had the administrative ability to recommend inmates for early release, according to officials.
Perkins’ co-worker declined to participate in the scheme, reported the incident to law enforcement and agreed to cooperate in the investigation, which included the use of numerous consensually recorded conversations.
In July 2013, under the direction of law enforcement, Perkins’ co-worker told Perkins that he/she had changed his/her mind and wanted to participate in the scheme.
Perkins informed her co-worker that a scheme involving the inmate who had been previously identified was no longer feasible.
In February 2014, as part of an undercover scenario, Perkins’ co-worker identified a second inmate as a possible candidate for the bribe scheme. Perkins agreed to participate and, after extensive planning, on March 8, 2014, Perkins and her co-worker traveled to a commuter lot off of Exit 28 on Interstate 84 to pick up a partial bribe payment of $5,000 in cash in a fast food bag that, as Perkins believed, was to be dropped off by an acquaintance of the inmate, according to authorities.
Perkins was arrested on March 14, 2014.
On April 27, 2015, officials said Perkins pleaded guilty to one count of acceptance of a bribe by a public official. In pleading guilty, Perkins specifically admitted that she participated in the scheme. Also she admitted that in February 2014, she agreed to accept a pair of shoes or a Louis Vuitton pocketbook in return for counseling the employee regarding the bribe scheme and failing to report the bribe scheme to prison officials.