7 JAIL WORKERS FACE BRIBERY AND DRUG CHARGES

Seven city jail workers, including a drug counselor and two correction
officers, have been charged with accepting bribes to smuggle drugs to
inmates, city officials said yesterday.

The employees, most of whom worked on Rikers Island, accepted anywhere from
$50 to $1,600 from undercover agents who posed as relatives and girlfriends
of inmates, according to the city's Department of Investigation.

In exchange for the money, the employees took what they thought to be
cocaine, heroin and marijuana and gave it to inmates, said Rose Gill Hearn,
the department's commissioner. She said that the seven employees had acted
alone and were not drug trafficking as a group.

The department conducted a yearlong inquiry after receiving tips about
illegal activity from inmates and jail employees.

One employee, a cook who the authorities said took $600 to smuggle cocaine
into a Rikers Island jail, was arrested on May 8. The other six people were
arrested Tuesday. They all face several charges, including attempted drug
possession, receiving bribes and attempted drug sales.

The charges are the latest in a round of scandals for the Department of
Correction.

In February, Anthony Serra, a former three-star bureau chief in charge of
all the jails on Rikers Island, was indicted on charges that he had used
prison guards to do landscaping and house improvements at his home in
Mahopac, N.Y.

Last month, two assistant deputy wardens and two correction officers were
charged with stealing a Salvador Dali painting from the lobby of a Rikers
Island jail.

Those charged in the drug investigation were: Keith McFarlane, a correction
officer for the past 13 years; Dante Pinnock, a substance abuse counselor;
Jose Infante, a teachers' aide; Gillian Guerra, a correction officer; and
three cooks, Joanne Wendell, Tracy Dailey, and Robert Isidore.

The commissioner of probation, Martin F. Horn, said that it was especially
troubling that the smuggling had happened in several jails, but that he
hoped the arrests would send a clear message.

"What it should tell everyone - certainly everyone who works in the
Department of Correction, is that when you engage in this behavior, we will
find you and we will root you out," Mr. Horn said.

He added that the investigation was continuing.