Feb. 26--A former religious services worker at Chicago's federal jail in the Loop was sentenced to two years of probation Thursday for violating a host of security measures, including letting inmates use his cellphone to make calls to outsiders.
Tommy Haire also admitted mailing letters on inmates' behalf without going through the usual screening process and letting inmates "socialize" in his office at the Metropolitan Correctional Center and surf the Internet on his computer, court records show.
Haire, 34, had faced up to a year in prison after pleading guilty in November to one misdemeanor count of conversion of government property. Federal prosecutors said the information and access Haire provided could have been used by the inmates as a means to extort others or to commit identity or tax fraud.
In a lengthy sentencing memo asking U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Mason to spare Haire from prison, Haire's lawyers said he'd helped the inmates because he "felt sorry" for them and didn't realize the potential consequences.
"While it may have been naive, it did not cross Mr. Haire's mind that the information could be used for these purposes," wrote attorney Erica Zunkel, of the University of Chicago Law School's Federal Criminal Justice Clinic.
Federal prosecutors did not file a sentencing recommendation with the judge and did not object to the request for probation.
In addition to the other security violations, Haire performed unauthorized searches at the behest of an inmate to find sensitive details about two unnamed prisoners, including their location and details of one's psychological and medical records, according to the plea agreement.
The federal jail has come under fire in recent years for a number of issues, from understaffing and overcrowding to the daring, dead-of-night escape by two inmates who rappelled out of their window on a rope fashioned from bedsheets and dental floss. The 28-story building at 71 W. Van Buren St. houses about 700 inmates.
According to a job description on the U.S. Bureau of Prisons website, a religious services assistant supports "religious programming of all faiths" by assisting in the preparation of educational materials and audio-visual displays inside the facility. Among the duties listed for the position was "maintaining the security of the institution."
In her memo, Zunkel detailed how Haire was able to overcome a troubled upbringing in an impoverished South Side neighborhood, where he avoided the lure of street gangs, graduated high school and later earned a graduate degree. He is also a decorated Army veteran who served as a squad leader in the Iraq War; he was credited with saving the life of a sergeant by shielding him from gunfire, Zunkel said.
When he returned from the war, Haire was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and saw psychiatrists for anxiety and depression, Zunkel said. He began working at the MCC while suffering from mental health issues and befriended several inmates who "seemed sympathetic to his challenges."
"Over time, Mr. Haire let the boundaries between the personal and professional blur," Zunkel said. "These friendships -- which were in part formed because of his mental health issues -- led him to do favors for the inmates."
jmeisner@tribpub.com
