On Monday, September 24, 2018, the Honorable Julie Perry of Attica Town Court sentenced former New York Division of Community and Correctional Services (NYDOCCS) employee Joann Thompson, 53, of Wyoming, to one year of interim probation for her conviction on a official misconduct charge, a class A misdemeanor.
Thompson was employed as a civilian cook with NYDOCCS when she engaged in sexual contact with a male inmate who had been assigned to and who was working for her in the prison kitchen. Thompson agreed as part of her guilty plea that she would not seek future employment with NYDOCCS. Thompson had already resigned her cook’s position.
This arrest was the result of a lengthy investigation conducted by the NYS DOCCS Office of Special Investigations and the New York State Police.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Gregory A. Kilburn and the defendant was represented by Jack Sanchez, Esq.
ADA Kilburn said of the conviction: “Whenever anyone within the prison system has sexual contact with an inmate it cannot be tolerated. In this case it went one step further because it was exploitative in nature. These kinds of crimes also present a danger to the safety and security of the facility.”