Prison guards lose jobs & freedom for taking inmates’ bribes, SC officials say
Two women who worked as guards at separate prisons were recently arrested on similar charges that they accepted thousands in bribes from inmates, according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
Columbia 29-year-old Allyssa Jasso and 32-year-old Kingstree resident Laura Leigh Patterson were each charged with bribery, misconduct in office and violating the computer crime act, S.C. Department of Corrections officials said in news releases. Patterson, who worked as a correctional officer at Turbeville Correctional Institution, also was charged with securities fraud when she was arrested, according to the release.
Jasso worked as a correctional officer at Manning Reentry/Work Release Center in Columbia, and both women have been fired, S.C. Department of Corrections officials said.
Jasso was charged with nine different counts of bribery, and those along with the other charges involve receiving $2,500 on her cellphone in four separate payments from an inmate, according to the release. The inmate who provided the money to Jasso used a contraband cellphone to issue the bribes between Feb. 21 and Feb. 25, 2025, an arrest warrant shows.
Jasso was arrested May 29, and her $50,000 bond on the combined charges was posted June 1, Richland County court records show. She’s not listed on the inmate roster at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.
In her separate case, Patterson received $18,743 from, or on behalf of, an inmate at the Clarendon County prison, the S.C. Department of Corrections said. She’s accused of accepting the bribes between May 1, 2020, and Dec. 1, 2021, according to an arrest warrant. Patterson knew that the money she was receiving was “derived directly, or indirectly, from the proceeds of unlawful activity,” an arrest warrant says.
Patterson was arrested May 8, and she was issued a $2,500 personal recognizance bond that was both issued and posted the same day, Clarendon County court records show.
The names of the inmates involved in the separate investigations were not made public, and there was no word if they will face any criminal charges.
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