Crime & Safety

FCI Danbury Case Manager Indicted on Bribery Charges

Prison employee facing 30 years for allegedly paying and collecting bribes.

A case manager at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Danbury was indicted Thursday for allegedly scheming to solicit bribes from inmates to recommend their early release to halfway houses.

Waterbury resident Kisha Perkins, 42, was arraigned last month on charges of abetting in a bribery scheme, however Thursday’s indictment includes one count of paying a bribe to a public official and one count of acceptance of a bribe by a public official.

As alleged in the criminal complaint, in June 2013, Perkins approached another FCI Danbury employee about an opportunity to participate in a scheme to solicit a cash bribe from an inmate at FCI Danbury in exchange for the inmate’s early release to a halfway house. At that time, Perkins held the job title of “Unit Counselor” at FCI Danbury and did not have administrative authority to recommend inmates for early release.  

Perkins explained that the inmate and the inmate’s husband were willing to pay $20,000, and that Perkins’ co-worker, who would receive half of the money, was needed to complete the scheme because the co-worker had the administrative ability to recommend inmates for early release.

Perkins’ co-worker declined to participate in the scheme, reported the incident to law enforcement and agreed to cooperate in the investigation, which included the use of numerous consensually recorded conversations.

In July 2013, the co-worker told Perkins that they had changed their mind and wanted to participate in the scheme. It is alleged that Perkins informed her co-worker that a scheme involving the inmate who had been previously identified was no longer feasible.

As the investigation continued, in February 2014, Perkins’ co-worker identified a second inmate as a possible candidate for the bribe scheme. Is it alleged that Perkins agreed to participate and, after extensive planning, on March 8, 2014, Perkins and her co-worker traveled to a commuter lot off of Exit 28 on Interstate 84 to pick up a partial bribe payment of $5,000 in cash in a fast food bag that, as Perkins believed, was to be dropped off by an acquaintance of the inmate.

If convicted, Perkins faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 15 years on each count.

After her arrest on March 14, Perkins was released on a $100,000 bond. Her bond was revoked on March 28 and she is currently detained. An arraignment and detention hearing is scheduled for April 7 in New Haven.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.