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Cook County Jail Officer Charged With Selling Alcohol To Inmates

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Cook County Jail guard is free on bond after being charged with trying to sneak alcohol to inmates.

Jail Executive Director Cara Smith said the correctional officer, Daniel Murry, allegedly provided the alcohol in clear plastic bottles in exchange for cash from friends or relatives of inmates "on the outside." He was working in the jail's maximum-security Division IX Sunday when arrested, but Smith said he put up a struggle, injured a sheriff's police investigator, and now faces an additional aggravated battery charge.

The contraband charge is a class 4 felony, punishable by up to three years in prison, if convicted. The aggravated battery charge is a Class 2 felony, punishable by 3-to-7 years in prison, although both charges are probationable.

The 39-year-old Murry has been a Cook County correctional officer for nine years. He appeared Tuesday before a Criminal Court judge and was freed on a $100,000 personal recognizance bond.

He has been placed on paid leave, but Smith said the sheriff's office is taking steps to halt his pay and then fire him, under terms of the guards' union contract.

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