Former corrections officer indicted

A grand jury returned an 80-count indictment on Tuesday against Mark Barber, a former officer at the Nassau County Correctional Center in East Meadow who was accused of using his position at the jail to extort sexual favors from female inmates, according to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.
  
Barber, of Levittown, was arrested last December and charged with multiple counts of rape, sexual abuse and forcible touching after prosecutors said seven female inmates came forward with the allegations against the former corrections officer.
   
He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, officials said, and is due back in court on Sept. 28.

   
According to Rice, between Aug. 2007 and March 2009, Barber, while working as a grievance officer for the female inmate population, allegedly engaged in various ongoing, inappropriate relationships with female inmates. In some of the relationships, Barber allegedly provided selected inmates — usually those who had histories of drug abuse, prostitution or mental health treatment — with cigarettes and authorized them to make private phone calls and engaged in various levels of sexual activity with them, Rice said.
   
Prosecutors said Barber started as a corrections officer at NCCC in 1987 and worked as grievance officer from December 2005 until he was fired on Dec. 30, 2009.  Grievance officers receive complaints from inmates about medical care and quality-of-life issues, and then interview those inmates to determine what course of action, if any, should be taken by the jail.
   
“This man was supposed to help these women with their problems, but instead he preyed on their vulnerabilities for his own sick needs,” Rice said.
   
The District Attorney’s Office and the NCCC Internal Affairs Unit said the two agencies began investigating Barber in March 2009 after a female inmate alleged that Barber tried to kiss her while she was assigned to a work detail under his supervision. The investigation revealed that six other inmates had inappropriate and, at times, sexual contact with Barber, prosecutors said.
   
Assistant District Attorney Andrew Garbarino of the Public Corruption Bureau, under the supervision of Deputy Bureau Chief Bernadette Ford, is handling the case for the District Attorney's Office. Barber is represented by Edward Galison, Esq.
    
The charges are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.