A former Butler County Prison inmate faces a felony charge after authorities said she deliberately coughed on a correctional officer.

Haley J. Russell, 42, of Slippery Rock Township is accused of coughing on the officer after she refused to wear a mask Dec. 26 when she was placed in the jail on a bench warrant.

Butler County detectives last week charged her with aggravated harassment by a prisoner, a third-degree felony.

Detectives said the incident occurred around 3 a.m. after Russell was committed to the prison. During booking, she was asked to wear a mask in accordance with county and prison efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

She declined to don a mask or answer questions by medical staff as part of the booking process.

“While the prison nurse was attempting to ask Russell the medical intake questions,” according to charging documents, “Russell leaned toward (the correctional officer) and intentionally coughed in her direction several times.”

Russell was about 6 feet from the officer, authorities said.

Later, Russell was taken to the shower area to be strip searched. There, detectives said, she “turned her head to the right and intentionally coughed on (the officer).”

The defendant at that time was right next to the officer, authorities said. The alleged incident was captured on the prison's camera surveillance system.

Prison Warden Joe DeMore said Tuesday that the officer was tested for COVID-19 “within two days” of the incident. He declined to release the results of the tests for confidentiality and privacy reasons.

Russell was released Monday after her warrant was lifted, prison officials said. She is awaiting arraignment on the latest charge, and online court records did not indicate if she has an attorney.