Alabama prison workers arrested on corruption charges
Montgomery AL Dec 2 2022 An Alabama prison captain and former lieutenant were arrested Monday night on charges of bribery.
Deaundra Leshawn Johnson, a captain with the Alabama Department of Corrections, is charged with four counts of bribery and four counts of using her position for personal gain.
Centauria Darnise Olds, a former prison system lieutenant, faces the same eight felony charges, according to Jefferson County jail records.
“The ADOC is committed to enforcing its zero-tolerance policy on contraband, particularly when it comes to policing our own,” said ADOC Commissioner John Hamm.
A prison spokesperson, Kelly Betts, did not provide additional information about the nature of the charges.
Johnson, 43, is on mandatory leave from her job at the Childersburg Community Work Center, said Betts.
Investigators served a search warrant at their home in Birmingham “as part of an ongoing criminal investigation,” Betts said. She noted that additional charges are pending.
Olds, 37, was also arrested last year on charges of bribery and failure of duty. Bibb County court records allege that from August 2020 to January 2021, she brought contraband into a prison facility in exchange for money from a man serving life in prison for murder.
The records also allege that in 2020 Olds “knowingly engaged in a video message via cellular phone with an ADOC inmate … and failed to perform her duties as a Correctional Lieutenant to notify, search, and/or confiscate the cellular phone…”
Olds’ attorney declined to comment.
Johnson and Olds were released from the Jefferson County jail Tuesday after posting bail.
Tom Albritton, executive director of the Alabama Ethics Commission, said he could not comment on the situation. He also declined to say whether the commission is investigating.
