Photo: Yi-Chin Lee / Houston Chronicle

A former Texas prison major will face four years of probation after he pleaded guilty this week to a felony tampering charge for conspiring to plant screwdrivers in an inmate's cell last year at a Brazoria County lock-up.

Juan Jackson was one of four Ramsey Unit prison officials indicted in July 2018 in connection with an evidence-planting scheme that came to light on the heels of an investigation into a disciplinary quota system at the Rosharon lock-up.

Prison officials did not offer comment Tuesday on Jackson’s plea.

One of the other officers - former sergeant Marcus Gallegos - already pleaded guilty and late last year agreed to the same deferred adjudication deal. As long as the men comply with the conditions of their supervision, pay a $1,500 fine, abide by curfew rules and do 120 hours of community service, they won’t face any time behind bars and will have their records wiped clean.

"If he successfully completes it, he won't have a conviction," Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne said last year after Gallegos entered his plea. "But what was important to us - and obviously there was no criminal history - was that the person plead to a felony."

If the men fail probation, they could face up to 10 years in prison, she said.

To Neil Giese - the prisoner at the center of the case - the sentence might come as a disappointment; in a letter addressed to Yenne earlier this year, he expressed hope that Jackson would serve prison time, and he condemned the former major’s actions.

“Mr. Jackson was demoted and on probation for implementing case quotas with (Capt.) Reginald Gilbert against offenders on the Ramsey Unit when he resigned over allegations of planting screwdrivers in my cell,” Giese wrote. “Jackson knowingly acted outside of TDCJ policy and law over and over again to violate the civil rights of offenders that he was charged with the duty to provide humane treatment to.”

Jackson’s attorney did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment.

The other ex-officials accused in the felony and misdemeanor indictments - Lt. James Thomas and Officer George Wolfe - have not yet entered pleas and could still potentially take their cases to trial.

The charges were filed last year in Brazoria County amid an investigation into a disciplinary quota system requiring officers to write up inmates or risk facing consequences themselves. Though the Texas Department of Criminal Justice repeatedly stressed that the evidence-planting and the quotas were unconnected problems, Jackson was involved in both.

Allegations of a quota system came to light in mid-May after the Chronicle obtained copies of an email from Capt. Reginald Gilbert apparently ordering officers to write up prisoners for specific infractions.

"Effective March 10, 2018, each Sergeant will be required to turn in at least two (2) cases written by officers for a Level 2 Code 35 'Unauthorized Storage of Property,'" he wrote. "Two each day is my requirement. Remember this is to be done each workday without exception."

A couple hours later, Jackson responded, noting that the "below instructions will help greatly in fighting a gig," which is slang for an audit.

Though he was demoted and given eight months of disciplinary probation, records show Gilbert defended himself to investigators, saying he wasn't ordering officers to write more cases but simply instructing sergeants to turn in cases already written and that his email was taken out of context.

Weeks after it began, prison officials abandoned the alleged quota system, but TDCJ started investigating after the Chronicle reported on it. Multiple officials were recommended for termination, demoted or transferred; more than 600 disciplinary cases tossed out; and the prison system set out to review its disciplinary policies.

“This appears to be an isolated incident that started with that major,” prison spokesman Jeremy Desel said at the time. “All parties involved including that major did not show integrity and did not uphold what is one of this agency’s core values.”

Then on May 25, after reading about the investigation into the "bogus" cases, Giese’s mother wrote in to say her son had been set up by prison guards who allegedly planted two screwdrivers in the man's cell earlier that month at Ramsey Unit. The Office of the Inspector General launched an investigation and found the claim had merit.

Four officials were indicted in July, though authorities did not immediately explain the motivation for their alleged actions.

But Giese, who is currently in prison at a different facility in Hay County, described it as a matter of retaliation, writing that the set-up came in response to a grievance he’d filed against the former major.

“There is nothing rehabilitative about punishing offenders for fictitious rule infractions,” he wrote. “What the culture of TDCJ administration is showing offenders is that it’s okay to abuse people who are in a weaker position.”

keri.blakinger@chron.com