A Boulder County Jail deputy has been reprimanded for releasing a mug shot in which a trespassing suspect was posing, cocking his head to the side and perching his chin on his fist.

It’s jail protocol to take two mug shots of every inmate — one straight on with their hands by their sides and one to the side, said Division Chief Larry Hank, who oversees jail operations. All inmates must be doing the same thing in their mug shots because officers use the photos in line-ups, Hank said.

If everyone was allowed to do whatever they wanted, the pictures “would be useless,” Hank said.

Dustin Winesberry, 22, was arrested Sunday evening on suspicion of climbing onto an apartment balcony and telling the women inside that he wanted to “hang out,” according to Boulder police. When he was booked into the jail at 1:30 a.m. Monday, Hank said, Winesberry “was being a clown” and a deputy took a mug shot of him posing.

Instead of deleting the mug shot and putting a hold on Winesberry, meaning he wouldn’t have been allowed to leave the jail until he cooperated, Hank said the deputy entered the mug shot into the system. It was released to the Camera on Monday.

“The officer was busy that night,” Hank said. “He saw the photo and didn’t intend to leave it in the system. But he basically got busy and forgot.”

When the photo was brought to Hank’s attention, officers “deleted the pose and took a real mug shot,” he said. The new photo was taken Tuesday morning, and the deputy “got a verbal reprimand.”

“The officer has been talked to and realizes his mistake,” Hank said.

Scott Robinson, a Denver defense attorney, said mug shots are used often in police investigations, making it important for everyone arrested to be looking straight ahead in their photos. If Winesberry’s photo was used in a line-up, Robinson said, the cute pose could work against him.

“It would make his photo stand out and could have significant consequences for him,” Robinson said. “I have never seen a mug shot that has looked anything other than like a mug shot.”

Winesberry is not the first Boulder County Jail inmate to goof off or be obstinate in front of the camera, Hank said.

“We get a lot of people who come in who are under the influence,” he said. “So we can’t get them to stand up straight and take a photo.”

Inmates who fail the first time at taking an appropriate photo are booked into the jail and brought back to have their picture taken later. They can’t be released on bond until they cooperate for a mug shot, Hank said.

“People are uncooperative when they come in,” he said. “But if the only thing keeping them from being released is a photo, then they tend to be more cooperative.”

Winesberry cooperated for a new mug shot but still hasn’t posted a $1,000 bond to leave the Boulder County Jail. He is being held on suspicion of attempted second-degree trespass.

Last year, Winesberry was arrested on suspicion of second-degree burglary and theft from the Ramaley building on the University of Colorado campus. He pleaded guilty to felony first-degree criminal trespass and was given two years probation.

When he was arrested over the weekend, Winesberry told police that he is a registered sex offender. According to Colorado court records, however, Winesberry hasn’t been convicted of a sex offense in the state and isn’t a registered offender in Colorado.