RACINE — A former Racine County Correctional Institute supervisor was sentenced to more than three years in prison in connection to an illegal sexual relationship with an inmate.
Racine County Circuit Court Judge Robert Repischak on Tuesday ordered Jacqueline Heidt to serve 18 months in Racine County jail and six years of probation for two felony counts of misconduct in office, two felony counts of delivering illegal articles to an inmate and one misdemeanor count of fourth-degree sexual assault.
Repischak said he will not order Heidt to register as a sex offender.
Heidt, who is now 40, was charged in August 2022 after law enforcement alleged that she was involved in an illegal, consensual sexual relationship with an inmate, and had provided him with a cell phone.
During the sentencing hearing, Repischak said smuggling a cell phone into the prison was dangerous, regardless of the inmate’s reasons for using the phone.
“The fact that (the victim) did not run a criminal enterprise from prison with a cell phone means little to me,†he said. “It’s the fact that you introduced this cell phone into a prison setting, allowing him to do whatever he wanted to do with that phone.â€
Heidt apologized for her actions and said that poor mental health compromised her judgment.
“I’m a good person that just really got into a bad spot mentally, and I’m not using that as an excuse, but that compromised my judgment and, as a result, I made a very poor decision,†she said. “Not a day goes by that I don’t feel complete shame and guilt for what I’ve done.â€
Repischak said he did not believe that Heidt’s poor mental health was solely to blame for her actions or that the inmate had manipulated her into the relationship.
“While I believe that (the inmate) probably had some manipulative effect upon you, you seemed to have had no problem engaging in this behavior,†he said. “You were not a naive participant in this matter. You were a full-fledged participant in this abuse of trust and abuse of power.â€
History of charges
Police in August 2022 discovered a cell phone in an RCI inmate’s pants after responding to an apparent overdose, according to reporting. The cell phone reportedly contained nude photographs of and text messages with Heidt.
The inmate reportedly told police that Heidt had provided him with the cell phone and that he and Heidt had engaged in sexual encounters in her office more than 20 times.
Heidt denied the allegations, and stopped answering questions when confronted with evidence from the inmate’s cellphone, according to earlier Journal Times reporting.
On June 23, 2025, she pleaded no contest to one count of fourth-degree sexual assault and pleaded guilty to two counts of misconduct in office and two counts of delivering illegal articles to an inmate.
