Ex-prison guard pleads guilty to sex charges

Ex-prison guard pleads guilty to sex charges
 James Fisher, The News Journal12 a.m. EDT May 1, 2014
 (Photo: Submitted)
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 A former guard at Sussex Correctional Institution, Christopher S. Peck, pleaded guilty Wednesday to six counts of having sex inside the prison.
 A Superior Court judge set Peck's sentencing for the crimes for June 6. In November, Peck, a guard at the former SCI Boot Camp, was charged with multiple counts of having sex with different female inmates.
 Story: Sussex Boot Camp permanently discontinued
 In the wake of the arrest, corrections officials ordered a review of the boot camp's effectiveness and then ended the program earlier this year. The program had been meant to give first-time drug offenders a way to end of their sentences early by submitting to rigorous military-style discipline, but Department of Corrections officials said they concluded the program wasn't scaring enough participants away from re-offending.
 Peck's attorney, Michael Andrew, said his client would not comment about the case or the boot camp before sentencing.
 "I believe this is the right thing to do," Peck told Judge T. Henley Graves in his plea hearing. In addition to the six counts of sex in a detention facility, pack pleaded guilty to one count of official misconduct. Prosecutors dropped 12 other counts of having sex in the prison under the plea agreement.
 Peck faces a maximum sentence of 13 years behind bars.
 Contact James Fisher at (302) 983-6772, jfisher@delawareonline.com. On Twitter@JamesFisherTNJ