Former Suffolk correction officer gets 18 months in jail for sexually assaulting inmate

A former Suffolk County correction officer received an 18-month jail sentence on Tuesday after admitting he forced an inmate to perform oral sex on him while he was on duty at the Riverhead Correctional Facility, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said.

Jason Middleton, 37, of Central Islip also was ordered to register as a sex offender, District Attorney Raymond Tierney said.

Middleton pleaded guilty June 26 to third-degree criminal sexual act and official misconduct before Acting Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Karen Wilutis. As part of the plea agreement, he resigned from his job at the Riverhead facility, where he had worked since 2019.

Between June 5, 2023, and Aug. 14, 2023, Middleton escorted an inmate into a utility walkway between jail cells that he knew was a blind spot in the facility’s security camera coverage, prosecutors said.

Once there, Middleton closed the door and ordered the inmate to perform oral sex on him.

Middleton was arrested in November 2023, and subsequently suspended without pay.

“The vast majority of correction officers uphold their duties with the honesty and professionalism our justice system depends on,” Tierney said in a statement. “This defendant took advantage of the trust placed with him to commit an outrageous abuse of power and a serious crime.”

_{Top: Jason Middleton (provided by the SCDA)}