Ex-Prison Guard Sentence

Ex-prison guard sentenced
The Advocate by Bill Lodge - December 10, 2010

Ecknozzio Jackson, a former state prison sergeant, was sentenced to a federal prison term of 21 months Thursday after he admitted providing cell phones to an inmate for a promised bribe of $10,000. Jackson, 40, of Baton Rouge, never received a dime of the money promised by identity thief and scam artist Robert Thompson, 44, of Zachary. But he provided the phones. “You did that in return for a $10,000 bribe from the prisoner,” Chief U.S. District Judge Ralph E. Tyson said. The judge said Jackson knowingly helped Thompson commit crimes. Jackson, who worked at Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel, tried to share in Thompson’s stolen profits. But FBI agents arrested Jackson as he attempted to withdraw $3,000 that had been wired to an account at a Baton Rouge bank. “I accept full responsibility for what I’ve done,” Jackson told the judge. He also apologized to his family and all of Thompson’s victims. Tyson sentenced Thompson to a prison term of 309 years earlier this year. Thompson had admitted engineering the theft of approximately $100,000 from a series of prison cells while he was serving time for other financial crimes. But prosecutors introduced evidence that he had attempted to steal more than $20 million. Prosecutors contend the inmate used cell phones to call people outside of prison. Those people then called financial institutions, car dealerships, electronic stores, even churches to steal identities, credit card numbers and other information. Thompson posed as other people during those three-way calls. U.S. Attorney Donald J. Cazayoux Jr. noted in a written statement that Thompson is serving his three centuries in a special communication-management unit at the maximum security federal penitentiary in Marion, Ill. Tyson ordered Jackson to report to federal prison on Jan. 10. That facility has yet to be identified by the Bureau of Prisons. Tyson sentenced another former prison guard, Barbara J. Thomas, 46, of Tallulah, in September to three years of probation.

Other people previously convicted and sentenced in the case include:

Charlene B. Jackson, 38, New Iberia, 15 months in prison.
Sedric L. Jackson, 37, Baton Rouge, five years in prison.
Zelbony O. Taylor, 34, Baton Rouge, five years in prison.
Dacobia L. Hamilton, 33, Baton Rouge, 30 days in jail.
Murkell L. Parker, 35, Baton Rouge, five years of probation.