Sexual encounters land ex-Aurora prison security chief in jail

An Illinois congressman's son was taken to jail Wednesday after he admitted having sexual encounters with inmates while employed as a security chief for a state corrections facility in Aurora.

Jeffrey M. Rush, 42, of Lake Zurich pleaded guilty to three counts of official misconduct in a negotiated plea accepted by Kane County Judge Timothy Q. Sheldon. Under the agreement, Rush was sentenced to 180 days in the county jail and 30 months of probation.

"He abused his position of trust ... for his own sexual gratification," Kane County prosecutor Justin Fitzsimmons said. "This sentence reflects that that will not be tolerated."

Rush, the son of longtime Chicago Congressman Bobby Rush, initially faced 47 counts of official misconduct, a Class 3 felony carrying a possible prison term of two to five years.

Two of the charges he pleaded guilty to Wednesday stemmed from 10 sexual rendezvouses with two female inmates from Aurora's Fox Valley Transitional Center. Prosecutors said Rush abused his position as chief of security at the facility by arranging the consensual encounters at an Aurora motel and one inmate's home between Feb. 1 and June 18, 2007.

Rush also had inappropriate contact with a third woman by twice offering her rides home, according to the Kane County state's attorney's office.

Public defender Brenda Willett, who represented Rush, declined to comment.

The transitional center, at 1329 N. Lake St., is run by the Illinois Department of Corrections. It provides "support and services for the female offender as she re-enters the community and workforce," according to an IDOC Web site.