Former Jailer Pleads Guilty to Lacing Prisoners’ Cigarettes

DECATUR, Ala. (AP) – A one-time Alabama jailer accused of sickening inmates by lacing their cigarettes with self-defense spray has pleaded guilty to assault charges. News outlets report former Morgan County corrections officer Jaylend Edward Handley pleaded guilty Wednesday to four counts of third-degree assault. Handley was ordered to pay $2,000 in fines and sentenced to 180 days in jail, followed by two years on probation. Court documents show Handley was working at the jail last October when he sprayed a prisoners’ cigarettes with irritating spray normally used for self-defense. Documents say Handley acted in retaliation for something the man had said.

(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)