Rikers Island Captain Resigns After Video of Her Kissing Inmate Surfaces

A Rikers Island captain resigned after video surfaced of her kissing an inmate.

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A veteran officer of New York's Department of Corrections has resigned after a cell phone video of her kissing an inmate in his jail cell went public.

You can see footage of that video here.

That clip, although brief, shows captain Shantay Dash walking up to the prisoner whom she has a conversation with seconds before leaning in for a kiss. Afterwards she yells, "What the heck?" After that, they exchange a high-five.

Sources told PIX11 that the inmate utilized a hidden contraband phone to record the whole incident.

View this video on YouTube

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Dash reportedly resigned just shy of reaching her ten-year anniversary as a Rikers employee, which means she won't get a pension. By leaving her post, she's also walking away from an annual salary of $80,000.On top of that, according to the New York Post, Dash earned over $134,000 last year. What a time to get caught.

PIX11 also says that commissioner Joe Ponte spoke to them several weeks ago about "inappropriate relationships" between inmates and staff, as part of a 14-point plan to reform the complex.

"They develop relationships that are unhealthy," Ponte said at the time. "They get staff—again, in small numbers—to bring in phones and contraband."

In fact, Dash had been arrested in January after she allegedly brought a tattoo gun into the facility so a female inmate could edit some ink that had linked her to a string of robberies she had committed. Despite successfully altering the tattoo, she was still convicted and given a 51-years-to-life sentence. As a direct consequence, Dash was placed on "modified duty away from inmates," but she wasn't fired.

Seems like she kind of wasted that break.

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