Danbury prison worker pleads guilty in bribery scheme

A Waterbury woman pleaded guilty Monday to participating in a bribe scheme at the Danbury prison.

Kisha Perkins, 43, who was a case manager at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, was involved in a scheme to solicit and collect cash bribes from inmates in exchange for recommending they be released to halfway houses, according to an announcement from Deirdre M. Daly, U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut. Perkins also admitted to agreeing to accept items in return for helping with the scheme, the U.S. attorney’s office said. Federal law enforcement discovered the scheme through an undercover operation.

Perkins was arrested in March 2014 and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford on Monday to one count of acceptance of a bribe by a public official. She could face up to 15 years in jail and a fine up to $250,000, according to the announcement. She is scheduled to be sentenced in July.

The correctional institution in Danbury is a low security prison on Route 37 with 777 inmates, and about 200 inmates in its adjacent minimum security satellite camp.