Prison worker jailed over closet sex with maximum-security inmate

A former US prison worker has made a teary apology to her ex-colleagues for compromising prison security after releasing a convicted rapist for a sex session in a closet.

"I exposed you guys to danger that I didn't even think about," the 38-year-old told a group of sheriff's deputies.

"I feel nothing but regret and sadness, and I'm so sorry."

Jill Curry was sentenced to more than four years in prison over the incident at Washington County Jail in Oregon, The Oregonian reports.

At least 13 times last year, Curry pushed a button in the prison's control room to unlock 25-year-old gang member Jeng-Li Delgado-Galban from his maximum security cell before meeting him in a supply closet to have sex.

Curry would wait for the sheriff's deputy to go out for lunch, leaving the civilian worker alone in the control room.

The ploy unravelled last July when the sheriff's office received a tip-off from a caller.

Last month she pleaded guilty to 28 counts of first and second degree custodial sexual misconduct.

Curry's lawyer had argued she fell victim to Delgado-Galban's advances at a time when her marriage was falling apart.

But judge Charles Bailey was unmoved. "Your hedonistic pleasures were more important to you than everybody you just mentioned," he said.

Delgado-Galban is serving time after breaking into a woman's apartment and raping her in 2009.