Prison guard arrested, accused of falsifying records
ST. GABRIEL, La. (AP) — A guard at Louisiana’s second-largest prison has been arrested after she allegedly falsified records following an inmate’s suicide.
Iberville Parish sheriff’s deputies arrested Master Sgt. Samantha Joubert, 28, of Baton Rouge, on Tuesday for malfeasance in office and injuring public records for allegedly falsifying public documents. It as unknown if she has an attorney who could speak on her behalf.
Joubert, who has worked at Elayne Hunt Correctional Center since 2018, was suspended pending the investigation, the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections said.
According to the department, an inmate committed suicide at the prison on June 2. During the investigation of the death, it was discovered that Joubert wrote in the cellblock logbook that she had made routine rounds at the prison when she had not, officials said.
The department, in a news release, said it turned over its findings to the sheriff’s office and Joubert was arrested.
The arrest was the second of an Elayn Hunt employee in the past month. A department spokesperson said Friday that the prison’s warden, Kirt Guerin, had been arrested by Louisiana state troopers on Memorial Day after crashing his state-issued vehicle while under the influence of an unnamed pain medication, the department said.
Guerin has also been suspended pending an investigation.