McHenry County Blog

I found this press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Springfield of interest because of similar charges that have been filed against former McHenry County Sheriff’s Sgt. Greg Pyle:

FORMER STATE CORRECTIONS OFFICER PLEADS GUILTY TO CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OFFENSES

One of the men in blue at the Graham Correctional Center is off to Federal prison.

Springfield, Ill. – A former Illinois prison guard, Steven L. Carson, of Hillsboro, Ill., has entered pleas of guilty to charges that he sexually exploited a minor, and that he distributed and possessed images of child pornography.

Carson, 46, appeared in federal court in Springfield on Feb. 21, 2013, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Byron Cudmore. Sentencing has been scheduled before U.S. District Judge Richard Mills on June 21, 2013.

Carson has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest in August 2012, when he was charged with distribution of child pornography in a federal criminal complaint.

According to the affidavit filed in support of the complaint, the Sacramento, Ca. division of the FBI’s Cyber Crime Unit was conducting an undercover investigation of peer-to-peer file-sharing accounts in April 2012, when an undercover agent conducted a file sharing session with Carson. At the time, Carson was employed as a prison guard at Graham Correctional Center.

Carson was indicted by a grand jury, and on Feb. 21, 2013, pled guilty to three counts:

• sexual exploitation of a minor
• distribution of child pornography;\
• possession of child pornography

In court documents and during the court hearing, Carson admitted that in January 2000, he used a child to perform sexually explicit conduct which he videotaped.

Further, Carson admitted that he engaged in peer-to-peer file sharing of child pornography, including prepubescent boys; and that he possessed images of child pornography, including more than 2,300 images and 40 videos which agents recovered from Carson’s computers. Carson also agreed to forfeiture of computers and related electronic equipment.

The statutory penalty for sexual exploitation of a minor is a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison to 20 years in prison.

For distribution of child pornography, the penalty is a mandatory minimum of five years to 10 years in prison; for possession of child pornography, the penalty is up to 10 years in prison.

The defendant may also be ordered to remain on supervised release for a term up to life.

The charges are the result of an investigation by the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gregory K. Harris and Bryan D. Freres.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.

Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Cook County Jail is finally routinely testing new prisoners for HIV.

More than 20 years ago, State Rep. Penny Pullen was pushing for inmates to be tested for HIV upon incarceration.

She was even willing to settle for testing upon release.

Why?

In the hope that those in prison might be less likely to infect others if they knew they were infected.

That was in the years when AIDS activists seemed to think the virus should have more civil rights than humans.

Well, now the Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Cook County Jail is routinely testing those on the way in.

Why?

Sheriff’s Department officials are “hoping to put a dent in the number of people who have the virus but don’t know it.”

That’s what the Chicago Tribune reports.

State prisons are next, the article says.

And, echoing the argument I made in the 1990′s, “Experts say correctional facilities have been a key battleground in the fight against HIV.”

Better late than never, I guess.

But think how many HIV infections could have been prevented if people like Illinois Department of Corrections Director Howard Peters had had the courage to follow the facts in the mid-1990′s, rather than political correctness.

And some wonder why I think government is incompetent.

Menard Correctional Center

State Rep. Emily McAsey, a Democrat from Lockport, thought she had a good idea.

And what does a relatively new legislator do with a new idea…especially if you are a lawyer, as McAsey is?

You have it drafted into a bill.

McAsey’s bill would increase the inmate co-pay for non-emergency medical visits from $2 go $5 a visit.

$336,000 extra money coming in from prisoners is the claim.

Second-term State Rep. Emily McAsey

But wait.

Might not the higher co-pay have a significant affect on utilization?

When a co-pay of $2 was imposed, how much less medical service was rendered?

If significant, did the costs for the outside medical providers decrease proportionately?

$2 represented 20% or a prisoner’s monthly income, one inmate has let me know.

It seems conceivable that more than doubling the co-pay will cut utilization even more.

So, the higher co-pay might lead to the delivery of significantly lower amounts of medical care.

If so, shouldn’t the outside vendor be paid significantly less?

Chicago Tribune headline from March 15, 2011.

State law envisions that those prisoners who can pay the approximately $26,000 a year that it takes to keep them in prison will do so.

But, some inmates have the ability to earn cash doing various chores. There’s even a Prison Industries division.

If a prisoner spends all the little money he earns, no problem.

If he decides to save it so he can have a nest egg when he gets released–and most prisoners get released–then there’s a problem.

The Department of Corrections tries to grab it to pay for his incarceration.

Do you sense a clash of values?

Enter Kensley Hawkins, a 60-year old who makes $75 a month making furniture in Joliet. He’s in for murder and attempted murder.

He managed to save $11,000.

The state has sued to get the money to pay for his stay behind bars. He owes $455,000 for his long stay. The Department deducts 3% from inmate earnings.

Hawkins lost in Circuit Court, he lost in the Appellate Court and his case is now on the way to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Without quoting anyone, reporter Ameet Sachdev points out,

“It’s the first time the court will address the issue, which also has social justice and public policy ramifications for Illinois.”

The John Howard Association’s John Maki comes to the rescue:

“This is not going to help create a prison culture that’s more rehabilitative, which makes people less likely to offend again.”

Hard for me to disagree with that.

To take away this meager hope for a better future for those responsible enough to both work and save strikes me as completely counterproductive.

Hawkins is due for parole in 2028.