By Stephanie Farr
Philadelphia Daily News
PHILADELPHIA — A Bucks County corrections officer with a Sawschlong Obsession, or a proclivity for ogling inmates’ private parts, was arrested for, among other jailhouse shocks, forcing inmates to play “patty-cake [pat-a-cake]” and hug one another, prosecutors said.
Joseph Mullen, 28, of Feasterville, was charged by an investigating grand jury with official oppression and harassment yesterday after his sexually suggestive actions toward prisoners at the Bucks County Correctional Facility gave inmates the gruesome prison blues, according to authorities.
Between July and August 2013, Mullen allegedly asked inmates to expose themselves to him in exchange for letting them out of their cells early when they were reprimanded, court documents said.
On at least three occasions, one inmate did just that for Mullen, according to the grand jury.
When that inmate and two others were caught watching television inside a cell, Mullen locked all three men inside and told them they’d only be released if they “played the child’s game ‘patty-cake’ with each other” and then hugged, according to court documents. The men did so and the cell door was opened, prosecutors said.
The grand jury also said that Mullen asked inmates if he could conduct unauthorized strip searches on them and that he often watched prisoners while they used the restroom, despite the fact that it made them uncomfortable.
On one occasion, Mullen even told a prisoner that he “wanted to watch him ‘take a s---' " and on another occasion, he asked an inmate using the bathroom why he was “hiding” his penis from him, according to court documents.
Mullen also allegedly asked inmates if they would perform various sexual acts with men for $1 million, and he even confiscated one prisoner’s radio when that man declined to give Mullen a detailed account of his prior sexual experiences, court documents said.
The corrections officer was arraigned yesterday on $75,000 unsecured bail.