A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office:

MCC GUARD INDICTED FOR ALLEGEDLY TAKING BRIBES TO VIOLATE PRISON RULES REGARDING INMATE POSSESSION OF CONTRABAND

Metropolitan Correctional Center. Photo credit: Wikipedia.

CHICAGO — A correctional guard at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago was indicted on bribery charges for allegedly violating Federal Bureau of Prisons rules regarding inmate possession of contraband.

The defendant, TONY HENDERSON, was charged with five counts of bribery in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury.

The charges are not related to the Dec. 18, 2012, escape of two inmates, both of whom were later captured, from the federal facility in downtown Chicago.

Henderson, 51, of Portage, Ind., an MCC correctional guard since 1996, was placed on administrative leave last September. No date has been set yet for his arraignment in U.S. District Court.

The charges, returned yesterday, were announced today by Gary S. Shapiro, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and John F. Oleskowicz, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General.

According to the indictment, on five different dates in July and August 2012 – July 12 and 28 and Aug. 4, 18 and 31 – Henderson accepted a bribe to violate BOP rules and regulations regarding inmate possession of contraband.

The Metropolitan Correctional Center, or MCC Chicago, located at 71 West Van Buren St., is an administrative detention facility operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Parente.

Each count of bribery carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or a fine of up to three times the value of the bribe. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.