A corrupt former correctional officer who wanted to serve her sentence at home was instead sentenced to 15 months in prison in order to send a clear message of deterrence. Fania Jean-Charles endangered the lives of her colleagues and inmates by smuggling drugs and knives into prison.
“The corruption of a correctional officer is unacceptable. The accused has dishonored herself, the law she swore to uphold, and the justice system she represented,” Judge Salvatore Mascia ruled Monday at the Montreal courthouse.
The 40-year-old Montrealer was a veteran correctional officer at the Rivière-des-Prairies prison when she betrayed her colleagues in the winter of 2021. She pleaded guilty last summer to counts of breach of trust, conspiracy to distribute cannabis and illegal possession.
Fania Jean-Charles was paid about $5,000 to smuggle drugs, knife blades, cell phones and lighters to inmates. She used modified soda cans with false bottoms and Pringles potato chip boxes to hide the drugs and items.
Although she was caught only once, Fania Jean-Charles had carried out several “suspicious maneuvers” in the past. It is “doubtful,” according to the judge, that the accused received a “considerable” sum for a single delivery. Her criminality was not “limited” to an isolated incident, which demonstrates the “planning, premeditation and ingenuity” of her scheme, the judge maintains.
Fania Jean-Charles had hoped to get away with a two-year community sentence because of her “convincing” rehabilitation and therapy with a naturopath. The judge also considered several mitigating factors in her favor: her admission of guilt, her “well-started” rehabilitation and her low risk of reoffending.
However, the aggravating factors “far outweigh” the mitigating factors, the judge concluded. A home prison sentence would thus send a “bad” message to the public, according to the magistrate.
“The Court must impose a sentence that sends an unequivocal message of deterrence to all persons entrusted with the authority of the State, that is to say, crimes of this nature involving a flagrant abuse of trust and authority will result in severe sanctions,” maintains the judge of the Court of Quebec.
Judge Mascia points out that correctional officers have a particularly difficult job. The crime committed by Fania Jean-Charles is “very serious,” since she turned her back on her great responsibilities, in addition to endangering the lives of many people.
” When [les agents correctionnels] “When they break the law, they not only create an unstable prison environment, they also put our communities at risk. Allegations of corruption harm not only the prison system, but all members of the criminal justice system who depend heavily on public trust,” the judge said.
The case of her co-accused Jahvon Collins, 26, returns to court next January for trial. As for Rick Shayne Stivens, the correctional officer’s boyfriend at the time, he was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended, in October 2023. He allegedly received an amount for facilitating transactions between the two other accused.