The former deputy warden of Bergin Correctional Institution is collecting his pension in prison.
Neal Kearney, a former deputy warden with the Connecticut Department of Correction, is getting a different perspective on his old job – this time from behind bars.
Kearney pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree sexual assault in June for getting sexual favors from a male inmate. He is serving a 30-month sentence in Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center in Uncasville.
The court also imposed a $151 fine on Kearney.
Meanwhile, the state paid Kearney a $65,040 pension last year.
If Kearney serves his entire sentence, he will earn at least $162,600 while in jail.
As a 24-year veteran of the Department of Correction, Kearney served four years beyond the 20 years needed for a hazardous-duty employee to qualify for a full pension. He retired in November 2009, two months after being put on paid administrative leave.
An investigation of Kearney began when the victim told his parole officer in August 2009 about their relationship, which continued after his release from prison, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
“The victim explained that Deputy Warden Neal Kearney calls him all the time and he is afraid that he could call his probation officer and jam him up in jail,” the affidavit said.
According to the affidavit, Kearney and the unnamed victim first met when the victim was serving prison sentence in 1996. Later, they met again at an adult store. Kearney paid the victim for sex on more than one occasion at the store and at his home, according to the affidavit.
The victim reentered prison – on unidentified charges – in January 2008 and began to serve his sentence at Webster Correctional Institution. According to the affidavit, Kearney arranged to have him transferred to Bergin Correctional Institution, the prison where he served as deputy warden.
According to the victim’s statements in the affidavit, Kearney also had to transfer another inmate out of Bergin, because the victim had a conflict with him.
The day after his transfer, the victim said he met with Kearney in his office.
“He told me that he was going to have me moved to Deardon Hall and get me a job,” the victim said in the affidavit. “Getting a job and moved to Deardon usually takes months.”
“It would very unusual for an inmate to get moved into Deardon Hall with a good job that fast,” the victim said.
Deardon Hall is one of the dorms within Bergin, considered to be the best inmate housing there, and it reportedly had a waiting list at the time of the victim’s transfer.
The next day the victim started his job cleaning where the officers eat – and Kearney’s office – replacing another inmate who held the job.
The victim and Kearney had about 25 sexual encounters at Bergin Correctional Institution, according to the victim’s testimony in the affidavit.
“I felt like I could not tell him no because he had such power over me and he would keep me in prison if I did not do it,” the victim said.
In order to protect himself, the victim hid evidence from one of his encounters with Kearney under a metal rack in a mop closet and later told investigators about it, according to the affidavit.
The Department of Correction placed Kearney on paid administrative leave Sept. 1, 2009 and Kearney retired Nov. 1, 2009, according to a spokesman.
In 2008, the General Assembly passed a law giving the Attorney General the ability to revoke pensions for state employees who commit felonies on the job. The resignation and federal conviction of former Gov. John G. Rowland prompted the legislation.
However, the law specifies only four types of crime that can result in loss of pension:
- Embezzlement of public funds
- Theft
- Bribery
- Any other felony committed “with the intent to defraud” and related to public employment
“We have not initiated revocation proceedings against Neal Kearney as it is not a proper matter for the pension revocation statute,” said Susan Kinsman, spokesman for Attorney General George Jepsen.
Here is copy of the four types of crime that can result in the loss of pension: A state judge may revoke or reduce state and municipal pensions for criminal convictions arising out of on-the-job corruption regarding embezzlement of public funds; felonious theft from the state, a municipality or quasi-public agency; bribery; or felonies committed through the misuse of a government office or job. The law requires that the state attorney general apply for a court order to reduce or revoke a pension. Effective October 1, 2008. Kearney violated the last provision of the law he engaged in a felony through the misuse of a government office or job. The explanation given by Susan Kinsman that Kearney’s rape of an inmate under his control is “proper matter for the pension revocation staute” is false.
The general assembly lacks the courage and integrity to enact a law which will revoke all benefits of any state employee convicted of committing an on the job felony. the 2008 law is a dog and pony show. The AG will not do it because he too is a politician and birds of a feather flock together. This is one more reason why we needto elect citizen legislators. We need to restore fiscal sanity and insist that anyone who receives wages or benefits from taxpayers conducts his or herself in an honorable fashion. Yes I am talking about republicans as well as democrats.
Just another example of the self serving double standards initiated and maintained by the asshole politicians and law makers running our state. I’ll sleep better tonight knowing that the recent tax increases imposed on me and the rest of the hard working, law abiding tax paying citizens of Connecticut are going towards the salaries of degenerate scumbags like Kearney.