The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

September 15, 2008

Former correctional officer sentenced

By Matt Hill

FAYETTEVILLE — Fayette County Circuit Judge John Hatcher denied an application for probation and sentenced a former Mount Olive Correctional Complex correctional officer to prison Monday for her complicity in an inmate’s escape from the institution last Nov. 29.

Clarissa D. Johnson, 35, of Summersville, wept and bid farewell to her family members as she was escorted from the courtroom in handcuffs by a Fayette County sheriff’s deputy. Johnson will spend the next one to five years behind bars after pleading guilty July 29 to permitting the escape of a prisoner in the custody of the state Division of Corrections.

Johnson was indicted on that charge by a Fayette County grand jury in May.

According to the plea agreement worked out between Fayette County prosecutor Carl Harris and Fayette County public defender Jim Adkins, Harris remained silent at Johnson’s sentencing.

For her part, Johnson apologized for not performing her duties. She expressed remorse for causing “trouble, embarrassment, humiliation and shame” to those around her and vowed to “rise above all of this and be a better person.”

Johnson added that she wants to become a paramedic. “There is no excuse for my actions,” she conceded.

Hatcher described as a “mystery” and “silly” that the DOC would leave one female officer alone with six or seven male inmates who were part of a work detail from which Robert A. Brady, 35, of Lewisburg, escaped.

“You’ve hung more paper than a wallpaper hanger,” Hatcher noted, referring to multiple bad checks that Johnson has purportedly written in Nicholas County since 2004. Letting her supervise prisoners was “like having a fox take care of the hen house,” he added.

Hatcher pointed out that Johnson had contact with Brady after his escape. He told her that she would be facing charges of felony murder had Brady killed anyone while he was on the loose.

He termed her actions as “terrible” and said that granting probation or alternative sentencing to her would send wrong messages to both DOC officers and prison inmates.

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“I was overwhelmed and very confused,” Johnson explained when Hatcher asked her on July 29 why she committed the felony.

Brady is now back at Mount Olive. He was indicted in May on a charge of escape from custody.

Fayette County Circuit Judge Paul Blake sentenced Brady to five years behind bars on Aug. 4 following his guilty plea that same day to a charge of escape from custody.

— E-mail: mhill@register-herald.com

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