Dec 5, 2018 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – The jail sentence for a corrections officer convicted nearly two years ago in the “rent-a-center” contraband scandal at SCI-Greene prison has been upheld by the state Superior Court.

Claiming his actions did not put anyone at the maximum security state prison near Waynesburg in danger, Michael S. Berry last year appealed his sentence of 30 days to a year in jail after his January 2017 conviction on two felony counts of unlawful use of a computer and one misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment.

The court denied his appeal Tuesday, saying that Berry’s failure to search the contents of a laundry bag being traded by prisoners that later was found to contain a makeshift knife “may have placed another person in danger of death or serious bodily injury.” The court also wrote in its opinion that Berry allowing prisoners to stand over his shoulder while he searched for private information about other inmates on the intranet database “DOCTNET” jeopardized security in the facility.

“Appellant’s use of the computer to view inmate records and to permit inmates to view such records, of their own or belonging to other inmates, constituted a use of SCI-Greene’s computer system for which Appellant was not authorized,” the court wrote in its opinion.

Berry, 36, of Clarksville, was one of three guards at SCI-Greene charged in February 2016 after state Department of Corrections investigators accused them of running “rent-a-center” that allowed inmates to trade contraband, such as televisions, in exchange for information in early 2015. The two other corrections officers, John C. Smith Jr., 48, of Caldwell, Ohio, and Andrew Schneider Jr., 37, of Grindstone, were acquitted on all charges. Schneider has since sued the lead investigator the case, Daniel Meinert, in federal court claiming he had the authority as a member of the prison’s security search team to trade confiscated goods as rewards to inmates in exchange for information to keep the facility safe.

Berry collapsed upon learning that the Greene County jury had convicted him in January 2017 on some of the most serious charges following a four-day trial. Greene County Judge Lou Dayich sentenced Berry the following April to 30 days to a year in the county jail on work release, along with one year probation.

Berry claimed in his appeal that testimony during the trial showed there was “an institutional practice of recovering and storing confiscated property (primarily electronic related property) from the ‘HOT TRASH'” in the prison to be traded for information. But the state Superior Court decided that Berry’s conduct went well beyond the normal scope of the practice to recirculate unused electronics, which itself was against DOC policy.

“As established by the testimony presented at trial, Appellant knew, as did all corrections officers, especially those officers on the search team, that multiple inmates were not permitted in the strip room, inmates were not permitted to transfer property to another inmate, all bags must be examined by an officer, and that possession of a shank, or any item that can be used a s a weapon, places all Officers and all inmates at risk,” the court wrote.