NYC Jail Guard Lands Behind Bars After Sneaking Blades, Drugs to Inmates

A disgraced Big Apple correction officer was hit with a six-month prison sentence Thursday for smuggling blades, drugs, cigarettes and cellphones to inmates in exchange for hefty bribes.

Miguel Compres, 36, pocketed more than $7,000 for sneaking the contraband — including marijuana laced with K2, several scalpels and phones — to inmates at the Manhattan Detention Complex over a 10-month period, federal prosecutors said.

He is due to surrender to authorities on June 6 to begin his sentence, and will be on probation for three years after his release, US District Judge Paul Engelmayer said in court in Lower Manhattan.

Compres, a former Department of Correction worker, faced up to two years in prison after he was arrested on May 26, 2021 — but cut a deal with prosecutors in November.

“I’m very sorry for the actions I partook in,” Compress said in a statement he read in court Thursday. “My selfish actions put many individuals in potential danger. I thank the Lord every day that no one was hurt as a result of what I did.

“I take full responsibility for my actions, and once again, I’m very sorry,” he said. “I cannot stop thinking of how embarrassing it is to stand in this courthouse, from someone coming from a family that has never been in this situation to someone giving advice to never do wrong again.”

Compres added that he wanted to be in law enforcement, but noted that “in reality was a job I couldn’t handle,” and said he became “emotionally depressed” working in a jail.

“I wanted to protect myself,” he said. “I wanted my days to be easy and most important, I wanted to come home to my family.”

He said he is the family’s sole breadwinner and asked that he not receive jail time.

Prosecutors acknowledged that Compres was contrite, but said his actions bringing “lethal weapons” into the jail were “inexcusable.”

Defense attorney Michael Vitaliano also asked that his client be spared more time behind bars, but the judge opted for six months — the sentence recommended by prosecutors.

“During that time Mr. Compres had a slight gambling problem,” Vitaliano told the judge. “The sum of that money was to pay off his gambling debt.”

He said his client “was being threatened by other people” and owed “a few grand.”

Compres was among nine corrections officers arrested on corruption charges following a joint investigation by the FBI and the New York City Department of Investigation.

Three of the jail guards had also worked at the Manhattan lockup, and the other five had been assigned to Rikers Island before their arrests, prosecutors said.

Three of the officers were sentenced previously, but none received jail time.

According to a federal sentencing memo, those defendants smuggled drugs and other contraband, but not dangerous items as Compres did.

“None of the sentenced defendants introduced deadly weapons into their respective NYDOC facilities,” the memo said. “Rather, they introduced drugs and, in some instances, cellphones and cigarettes.

“The government does not mean to minimize that conduct — drugs create an obvious safety hazard for inmates, and contraband of any sort undermines prison regulations,” the federal document said. “But scalpels and other inherently dangerous weapons are, simply put, different in kind.”

Compres’ family was in court for the sentencing Thursday, including his wife, who wiped away tears as she left the courtroom.

His uncle, Miguel Compres, said he was “happy” because the judge could have given his nephew a lengthy sentence.

“He is lucky,” Compres said.

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