Female inmates allege assault

A class-action lawsuit filed this week portrays the state's prison for women as rife with sexual assaults by guards for the past three years, and accuses the Department of Corrections of conducting lax investigations into inmates' complaints.

In response, DOC Secretary Harold Clarke commissioned an outside investigation into the allegations and to assess how the agency polices its correctional staff. Four correctional officers, all of whom were named in the lawsuit as assaulting two female inmates, were sent home on paid leave last week pending the outcome of the investigation.

The lawsuit, filed in Thurston County by Columbia Legal Services, alleges that two unnamed inmates at the Washington Corrections Center for Women at Purdy, near Gig Harbor, were repeatedly assaulted. Those assaults, according to the lawsuit, continued even after the DOC conducted investigations based on the women's complaints.

In each instance, the alleged assaults occurred in areas not covered by video surveillance, including a closet, a property room and a prison cell. DOC spokesman Gary Larson said the outside probe would review where surveillance cameras are posted, and how investigations are conducted.

The suit seeks class-action status on behalf of an estimated 1,400 women in state prisons, citing a series of what the lawsuit depicted as lax investigations by DOC investigators and alleged retaliations if inmates do complain.

"Women prisoners are afraid of retaliation, so often decided not to complain about sexual assaults," according to the lawsuit.

"Safety for the public, corrections workers and the prison population is our most important responsibility," Clarke said in a statement. "We must do everything possible to ensure that offenders do not become victims while they are in prison."

Larson said he did not know if the allegations had been referred to criminal prosecutors, but added that the review, which will include other state facilities for women, would examine procedures for filing police reports. Attorneys for Columbia Legal Services were unavailable.

The federal Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 and state law prohibit any sexual contact between inmates and guards. With a federal grant, the DOC assigned two employees as sex-crimes investigators, and posted a tip line for inmates to complain about sexual misconduct by other inmates or by staff.

DOC investigated at least 40 sex cases in 2006, and 26 in 2005, involving sex between inmates or with staff, according to agency data.

The lawsuit filed this week accuses one guard of fondling one inmate's breasts in August 2005, after he allegedly told her "he would like to have a relationship when she was released from prison."

When she complained, she was given a polygraph test, which had mixed results, according to the lawsuit.

As a result, the guard, who had prior allegations of sexual assault, was allowed to return to work. He then forced another inmate to perform oral sex on him, according to the lawsuit.

Another guard is accused in the lawsuit of asking a prisoner — the same one forced to perform oral sex — to come to his office late a night, where she was allegedly forced to have sex.

The issue of sexual assaults at the Purdy prison has arisen many times before, including one instance of DOC settling an inmate's lawsuit in 1998 for $110,000 after she claimed a guard impregnated her.

Jonathan Martin: 206-464-2605

or jmartin@seattletimes.com;

Jennifer Sullivan; 206-464-8294

or jensullivan@seattletimes.com