By Brandie Piper
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A 29-year-old Ferguson corrections officer is accused of having sex with an inmate at the city jail, whom he later allegedly allowed to escape.
Jaris Hayden is charged with acceding to corruption by a public servant, two counts of sexual contact with an inmate, and permitting escape.
According to the indictment, Hayden engaged in sex acts with the inmate Oct. 9, 2013, at the jail.
The inmate has not been identified, but filed a lawsuit against the city and Hayden, alleging he raped her and forced her to give him oral sex after she was taken to jail for giving an officer a false name. She had been pulled over for driving a vehicle with an expired license plate.
The lawsuit says Hayden told the inmate “You smell good” while he booked her into the jail. She says after she was placed in a cell Hayden kept walking by and talking to her.
The inmate says in the lawsuit she was several months pregnant at the time of her arrest and was having pains. It says Hayden called an ambulance, and emergency medical personnel checked her out but told Hayden it was up to him whether she would be released into their custody.
According to the lawsuit, after the inmate’s boyfriend posted her bond, Hayden removed her from her cell and said something like, “You’re the type of girl that can get me in trouble.” She says she was crying and said she would “do anything to go home.”
She says Hayden told her to follow him down a hallway into a boiler room where he removed his pants and motioned for her to give him oral sex. She said she was afraid so she complied, but then Hayden took her to the back of the room where they had sex.
The lawsuit says Hayden opened a side door and told the inmate if anyone asks, to say a Wellston officer picked her up, and to run, but to stay close to the building so she wouldn’t be seen by surveillance cameras.
According to the lawsuit, the inmate ran to a restaurant across the street where she got a bag to hold pubic hair she saved during the sexual encounter. The lawsuit says her sister took her to an emergency room, and the hair was linked to Hayden through a DNA analysis.
Hayden was arrested Wednesday, and released on $10,000 bond, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Brandie Piper 