Jailbird’s Confiscated Computer Science Books Supposedly Posed a ‘Risk to Security’: Complaint

JOLIET, IL — An inmate at the Will County jail accused a deputy of unlawfully confiscating computer science books given to him as gifts by his family.

The inmate, 25-year-old Mark Harmon of New Lenox, filed a complaint in Will County court in an attempt to get back his computer science books.

Harmon, who has been in jail since his arrest in April 2015 on charges of drug-induced homicide, said he received the books from his family as gifts and that they were shipped to him “through the in-house mail system at the jail,” according to his complaint.

Harmon kept the books in his cell, “where he regularly read them,” the complaint said, but when he returned from a February visit with his family, he was told by a deputy that she had confiscated them.

The deputy informed Harmon “she had removed the computer books from (his) cell following an order she had received from the watch commander who had stated the books were a risk to the facility security,” the complaint said. “It was not explained how the books were a risk to security.”

Harmon filed a grievance, the complaint said, and was simply told the books were “unauthorized.” When he appealed this decision, a sergeant replied in writing, “What exactly do you not understand by the books being unauthorized(?)”

A spokeswoman for the sheriff said the department does not comment on pending litigation.

Harmon’s drug-induced homicide case has a pretrial hearing scheduled for May 3. He was arrested along with another New Lenox man, Adam Pate, for allegedly providing a deadly dose of heroin to 30-year-old Jeff Tediski on Christmas Eve 2014.

Pate, 31, pleaded guilty in April. He was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for Tediski’s drug-induced homicide and 10 years for the delivery of a controlled substance. Pate is serving the sentences simultaneously at Shawnee Correctional Center.

Mark Harmon | image via Will County Sheriff's Department