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| Canadian Prison Officer Jailed, Took Inmate's $10,000 |
| By Edmonton Journal |
| Published: 03/18/2003 |
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A former Edmonton prison officer who pleaded guilty to illegally accepting a $10,000 benefit from an inmate was sentenced February 28 to 90 days in jail. 'It was a breach of your duties of such a character that I think you have to suffer a term of incarceration,' provincial court Judge Al Chrumka told Stuart James Mackin. Court heard that in April 2001, Mackin, now 29, was a corrections officer at the maximum security Edmonton Institution, assigned to the segregation unit. Roland Couture, an inmate serving a nine-year sentence for robberies and other violent crimes, was living in the same unit. In March 2001, Couture started working as a cleaner on the unit and having dealings with Mackin. Couture arranged to supply Mackin with $10,000, Crown prosecutor Charlie Cobban said. That arrangement was made through a third party in Eastern Canada, Cobban said. 'It was paid into his bank account, so he now had $10,000 he didn't have before. 'And of course, he didn't report it to his superiors.' Mackin supplied alcohol to Couture with some of the money. Mackin also bought Couture a gold necklace worth between $300 and $400. Cobban said there's no evidence that all the money was to be used for Couture's benefit. Defence lawyer Alex Pringle agreed with Cobban's version of the facts. Pringle said Mackin, who had started work at the prison in 2000 after a series of other jobs in the security field, resigned following his arrest. Pringle argued for Mackin to receive a conditional sentence without jail time. 'He advises me that at the time he took this money he was an alcoholic with a significant drinking problem,' Pringle said. 'His debts were out of control. It is in that mindset that he took that money from the inmate.' Encouraged by his current girlfriend, Mackin quit drinking on Jan. 3 of this year, Pringle said. The girlfriend, in court to support Mackin, sobbed openly when Chrumka announced his sentence. Cobban had called for a jail sentence of up to two years to reflect the serious nature of the crime. 'I'm asking the court to treat this case as a case of corruption,' Cobban said. 'This has to do with order in a place that's a nasty, dangerous place to start with.' Chrumka sentenced Mackin to 90 days in custody, to be served on weekends at the Edmonton Remand Centre, and to two years' probation. Mackin must also repay $9,600 to the third party who gave him the $10,000. He must attend counselling, abstain from alcohol and other drugs which have not been medically prescribed, and finish 150 hours of community service before the end of 2003. The offence carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Mackin originally faced two charges of extortion and one count of theft. Those charges were withdrawn by the Crown in exchange for a guilty plea on the charge of accepting a benefit. |
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