Mississippi inmate gets 30 year-year sentence for sexual assault of prison employee

BRANDON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi inmate has been sentenced to an additional 30 years in prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting a prison employee.

Ernest Mayfield had been locked up in the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility only a few days before he broke into the woman’s office an assaulted her on Sept. 17, 2021, Rankin District Attorney Bubba Bramlett said in a news release Tuesday.

Mayfield, now 23, was convicted of sexual battery on May 1 after a two-day trial. Court records show that on June 24, Circuit Judge Steve Ratcliff gave him the maximum sentence.

Mayfield had two prior convictions in Jones County for possession of methamphetamine.