By Jim Mustian
The Advocate
BATON ROUGE, La. — The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office said Friday it has found no criminal wrongdoing on the part of a jail warden who resigned this year amid allegations he had inappropriate contact with inmates.
Capt. Dwayne Washington, who oversaw the Temporary Detention Center, stepped down in February, nearly a month after the Sheriff’s Office suspended him for improperly entering female dormitories, among other violations.
An internal investigation found Washington also failed to follow “proper procedures regarding the classification of inmates and discipline,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
A law enforcement official familiar with the inquiry said inmates had accused Washington of sexual harassment. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case, said Sheriff’s Office brass offered Washington the opportunity to resign, telling him “it would be the only action taken.”
The Sheriff’s Office, however, said its investigators interviewed inmates, nurses and Washington himself and found no evidence of sexual misconduct.
The case was not referred to the District Attorney’s Office, but Washington was suspended for neglect of duty and violating Sheriff’s Office policies on professionalism and “supervisor responsibilities.”
“It was also determined that Washington violated policy by entering the female dormitories without giving notice first,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Alice Turner, whose daughter has been in jail for the past two years, said Washington had been falsely accused by a group of female inmates who became angry with him. She said she has known Washington for years and that her daughter, Marva, has had no issues with him during her time behind bars.
Washington had worked for the Sheriff’s Office since September 2005. He resigned before his case could be heard by a disciplinary board.
The Sheriff’s Office declined to release any documents related to its investigation of Washington.
Responding to a public records request filed in February, an attorney for Sheriff Marlin Gusman said last week that the information “would not be considered to be public record because the investigation was never concluded and no final employment action was taken by the Sheriff’s Office as a result.”
The state Attorney General’s Office “has written that records pertaining to an internal investigation by a public agency that was not concluded and consequently did not result in any official action are not considered public records,” the attorney, Craig Frosch, wrote in an email.
Washington did not return messages seeking comment on his resignation.
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