By Jesse Bogan
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS — A former corrections officer at the St. Louis Justice Center across from City Hall has been arrested for having sex with an inmate.
Another corrections officer, also charged this week, has been accused of bringing drugs into the Medium Security Institution, also known as the City Workhouse, at 7600 North Hall Street.
Deborah Gibson-Harris, 29, of the 900 block of Manhattan Place, was charged with two counts of sexual contact with an inmate by a jail employee, Class D felonies.
Officials allege the sexual acts in question happened between Feb. 1 and April 26 in a jail cell. The inmate is identified in court records by the initials “D.E.”
Former St. Louis corrections officer Robyn Anderson, 43, of the 6700 block of Larry Lane in St. Louis County, faces one charge of conspiracy to distribute drugs in a corrections facility, a Class C felony.
According to court records, Anderson met an inmate identified by the initials “D.P.” while at work. Officials say recorded phone conversations between them revealed that Anderson was given instructions on how to obtain drugs. Officials say she then delivered them to the inmate between April 5 and April 7 and was later paid $50 for the effort.
Both of the former corrections officers were booked into the Justice Center.
Dale Glass, commissioner of corrections, said Gibson-Harris was fired from her job May 8 after she was flagged during a routine investigation at the Justice Center.
He said the case was then turned over to police.
She had worked as a corrections officer for the city since 2009.
Glass said Anderson, who was fired in the spring, was in her first year on the job.
“We continue to train people and try to warn them about various problems that they can find themselves in if they don’t follow training, policies and procedures,” Glass said.
“Sometimes they do not, and we have to hold them accountable when that occurs.”
Glass took over as jails commissioner in 2012 and has vowed to clean up the department. According to public records obtained by the Post-Dispatch in June, 49 corrections officers had been fired in the city since January 2013.
The city’s jail system has a staff of about 500 people.
“Staff have come a long way, and we have a professional group,” Glass said.