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Jail Officers Suspended For Passing Pornography

POSTED: 5:41 pm PDT May 21, 2008
UPDATED: 4:03 pm PDT May 22, 2008

Five officers at the King County Jail in downtown Seattle have recently been suspended for passing pornographic images, reported KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

The officers aren't being named because they haven't been charged with a crime, but they were each suspended for three days.

Dozens of photos, videos and cartoons were released to KIRO 7 after we filed a Public Disclosure Request. Most of the images are too pornographic for television, but all were passed, via county e-mail by five jail officers at the downtown Seattle facility.

All in violation of the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention's Employee conduct code, which dictates that county e-mail and computers should only be used for department business.

The command staff at the jail first became aware of what it calls the "inappropriate and sexually suggestive e-mails" late last summer.

After an investigation, the five officers were suspended and warned that the material was subject to public disclosure.

In the past three years, three jail officers have been convicted of sexual misconduct against inmates.

In addition to the convictions, nearly a dozen other jail staff members have also been investigated in recent years for sexual misconduct and not reporting wrong-doing.

"It's zero tolerance, period, on sexual misconduct," said King County Jail Director Reed Holtgeerts nearly two years ago after a 57-page federal report revealed what it called a "sexualized work environment" at King County's adult and juvenile detention facilities.

In response to this latest investigation, jail commanders released a written statement reiterating their zero tolerance policy.

The policy stated that the jail "will not tolerate sexual inappropriateness in the workplace, regardless of whether it is sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, or inappropriate e-mails.”

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