Prison work assignments used to lure and rape female inmates. Guards sometimes walk free

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- It was aft midnight erstwhile she crept down nan narrow, dimly lit stairs carrying a container of soiled laundry. She crossed nether a patchwork of pipes and ducts to nan acold backmost area of nan basement, arsenic she had done galore times before. That, she said, is wherever correctional serviceman James Widen was waiting for her.

He had conscionable called her sanction complete nan intercom, telling her to study to nan activity merchandise center’s laundry room. So April Youst roseate from her bunk, observant not to aftermath nan different incarcerated women sleeping successful nan dorm.

When she sewage downstairs, she said Widen offered to prevention her immoderate money by opening “the cage,” a small room pinch free washers and dryers reserved for caller prisoners who hadn’t yet started their jobs.

She gratefully stepped inside. And then, she said, everything changed.

“He’s rubbing himself,” she said, while reminding her of each nan small favors he’d done for her. “He was for illustration … ‘It’s clip to pay.’”

Her relationship of that nighttime to The Associated Press mirrors, almost connection for word, nan title she revenge pinch constabulary 8 years ago. Widen was charged 2 years later and pleaded not guilty, but nan lawsuit continues to crawl done nan criminal tribunal system. He vehemently denied nan allegations to nan AP, contending he was group up.

Youst is portion of nan fastest-growing organization down bars — women, astir of whom are locked up for nonviolent crimes that often are drug-related. Though female prisoners agelong person been victims of intersexual violence, nan number of reports against correctional unit has exploded nationwide successful caller years. Many complaints travel a akin pattern: Accusers are retaliated against, while those accused look small aliases nary punishment.

In each 50 states, nan AP recovered cases wherever unit allegedly utilized inmate activity assignments to lure women to isolated spots, retired of position of information cameras. The prisoners said they were attacked while doing jobs for illustration room aliases laundry work wrong correctional accommodation aliases successful work-release programs that placed them astatine backstage businesses for illustration nationalist fast-food restaurants and edifice chains.

“The only point you’re reasoning astir erstwhile you’re coming into intake is, ‘How americium I going to enactment safe?’” said Johanna Mills of Just Detention International, a nonprofit statement moving to extremity intersexual unit down bars. When she was incarcerated, she said her leader smashed her successful nan caput and raped her aft bringing her to an quiet gym 1 nighttime to do electrical work. “It ne'er occurred to maine to watch my backmost from nan supervisor,” she said.

As portion of a two-year investigation that has exposed everything from multinational companies benefiting from situation labour to incarcerated workers’ deficiency of authorities and protections, AP reporters said to much than 100 existent and erstwhile prisoners nationwide, including women who said they were sexually abused by correctional staff.

The AP besides scoured thousands of pages of tribunal filings, constabulary reports, audits and different documents that elaborate schematic stories of systemic intersexual unit and cover-ups from New York to Florida to California.

Those cases prompted a bipartisan Senate investigation 2 years agone that recovered prisoners were sexually abused by wardens, guards, chaplains aliases different unit successful astatine slightest two-thirds of each women’s national prisons complete nan past decade. But a backlog of thousands of cases has impeded nan Bureau of Prison’s expertise to clasp labor accountable, authorities investigators said.

The Prison Rape Elimination Act, passed much than 20 years ago, created a transmission for filing reports that resulted successful a threefold summation successful nan number of allegations of unit intersexual misconduct involving male, female and transgender inmates from 2010 to 2020 astatine jails and prisons nationwide.

Just complete a period ago, U.S. lawmakers held a proceeding to talk really to amended safeguard inmates. One woman, Bonnie Hernandez, testified that she was raped many times and violently by serviceman Lenton Hatten successful a Florida national situation aft he made her cleanable nan recreation area arsenic portion of her activity detail.

“It sewage to nan constituent wherever I feared for my life and had nary prime but to study him, moreover though I was terrified to do so,” she said. In response, she said she was sent to isolation, past transferred to a installation pinch greater restrictions and nary entree to video calls pinch her daughters. Still, it was 1 of nan uncommon cases that led to prosecution, boosted by DNA evidence. Hatten faced a maximum condemnation of 15 years successful prison. He received only 3 months last twelvemonth aft pleading guilty to intersexual maltreatment of a ward.

“What you let is what will continue,” Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, said aft her testimony. “Three months for rape is absurd. … That’s not justice.”

Sometimes, moreover a confession isn’t capable to lead to punishment. At different national installation successful Florida, a defender who had activity pinch women connected scenery work was among astatine slightest six men who were not prosecuted moreover though they admitted to nan misconduct during an soul investigation, according to nan Senate report. That was successful portion because, by law, authorities labor cannot beryllium criminally charged if they are compelled to make statements.

Internationally, situation rape is recognized arsenic a shape of torture. While it is forbidden successful nan U.S, correctional officers person based on successful immoderate states that – contempt nan clear powerfulness imbalance – inmates gave their consent. Laws alteration widely. For example, intersexual maltreatment of an inmate tin beryllium a misdemeanor successful Kentucky pinch a maximum condemnation of 12 months, but situation rape is simply a felony successful Pennsylvania, carrying up to 7 years down bars.

Correctional unit often discontinue aliases discontinue earlier soul investigations are complete, sometimes retaining pensions and different benefits, experts say. With nary insubstantial way and terrible unit shortages, immoderate are simply transferred aliases hired astatine different accommodation aliases they onshore positions overseeing susceptible populations for illustration juveniles, nan AP found.

Officer Widen took a occupation successful West Virginia aft resigning from a women’s situation successful neighboring Ohio. According to an soul investigation submitted arsenic portion of civilian tribunal filings, he had delivered a ringing from an inmate to a erstwhile prisoner. He told nan AP location was nary intersexual interaction and that he discontinue aft upsetting situation officials by launching his ain investigation into heroin smuggling astatine nan facility, transporting nan ringing successful speech for accusation from nan inmate.

Youst said she had nary concerns astir Widen erstwhile she first arrived astatine nan Huntington Work Release Center. In fact, she said he was a favourite among galore of nan men and women surviving there, sometimes sneaking them cigarettes aliases informing them astir shakedowns. She said he besides helped make a write-up against her spell distant aft she was caught pinch a contraband cellphone – an incident that could person gotten her sent backmost to situation and farther distant from her young daughter, who was surviving conscionable down nan street.

As a guard, Widen held unthinkable powerfulness complete nan women. They had earned their places astatine nan program, allowing them to dip a toed backmost into nan free world. Though activity assignments wrong prisons whitethorn salary only pennies an hour, extracurricular opportunities — which easy tin beryllium taken distant — let women to gain a small much money earlier their release.

Youst had been successful and retired of nan strategy for years for crimes stemming from her addiction. She was moving days astatine a section mattress institution erstwhile she was called down to nan laundry room that nighttime successful early 2016. She told constabulary — and nan AP — that Widen started rubbing himself complete his pants. Then, she said, he told her nan cameras couldn’t spot what he was astir to do.

“He’s already pulling his pants down,” she said. “You tin perceive his belt.”

She said she desperately tried to logic pinch him, stressing that personification could locomotion successful connected them and that nan women upstairs successful nan dorm mightiness miss her if she was gone excessively long.

And then, echoing nan relationship she gave police, she said, “He conscionable beautiful overmuch bent maine complete nan washing machine.”

Youst said she is baffled by really nan lawsuit has dragged on.

Widen has been free since posting enslaved aft his apprehension successful 2018. He told nan AP that each allegations of intersexual misconduct astatine nan activity merchandise halfway are untrue, branded Youst “a profession criminal” and said nan constabulary were unjustly aft him.

“My authorities person been violated each which way,” he said. “I’ve sewage thing to hide. I didn’t do thing I was accused of. West Virginia is crooked.”

West Virginia, a rugged swath of Appalachia that has been location to nan country’s highest overdose decease complaint for a decade, has knowledgeable 1 of America’s sharpest spikes successful female incarceration rates, pinch a much than 200 percent summation successful authorities prisons betwixt 2000 and 2016 — which is precisely erstwhile lawyers started fielding intersexual maltreatment complaints.

AP reporters met pinch existent and erstwhile prisoners wrong correctional accommodation and astatine their homes successful upland communities, immoderate of whom said unit members often started retired being bully — bringing them accelerated nutrient aliases constitution — and past raped them, peeped astatine them successful showers aliases forced them to portion and execute activity acts connected different prisoners while nan guards watched.

Most female victims locked up nationwide were abused earlier being incarcerated, investigation shows. They seldom study assaults, fearing they won’t beryllium believed aliases will beryllium punished, ranging from losing their jobs to being placed successful solitary confinement aliases denied interaction pinch their children. And galore connected activity merchandise person only a short clip near to service and are wary of doing thing that could nonstop them backmost to situation aliases adhd clip to their sentences.

In astir cases nationwide, soul investigations find that allegations are “unsubstantiated.” And successful nan cases that person capable grounds to upwind their measurement done nan ineligible system, only 6% of nan astir 1,000 unit who reportedly engaged successful intersexual misconduct pinch antheral and female inmates successful 2019 and 2020 were convicted, according to nan latest Department of Justice figures. Without prosecution, perpetrators besides tin debar placement connected activity offender registries.

In West Virginia, Amanda McGrew, nan state’s compliance head for nan Prison Rape Elimination Act, said immoderate prisoners usage nan enactment to record complaints unrelated to intersexual maltreatment because they cognize it will trigger nan removal of an serviceman until an investigation is completed. Police are alerted erstwhile accusations are substantiated and it’s up to prosecutors to return a lawsuit forward, she said. And moreover erstwhile unit resign, she added, investigations continue.

But location is different route: Huntington-based lawyer Michael Woelfel has sought restitution done a watercourse of civilian suits.

Woelfel, who besides is simply a Democratic authorities senator, said he has settled 127 cases successful which women accused guards of maltreatment successful nan past 15 years, forcing nan state’s security bearer to salary retired millions of dollars.

He said he first started receiving calls from women jailed for crimes linked to their addiction aft judges took a difficult line, locking them up to effort to straighten them out. He had known immoderate of them since they were girls, appearing earlier him erstwhile he oversaw preliminary juvenile delinquency cases that sometimes progressive intersexual aliases beingness maltreatment astatine home.

Most lawyers wouldn’t touch their situation rape claims, and not conscionable because they are difficult to triumph owed to qualified immunity — a precocious barroom that helps protects group successful rule enforcement from liability resulting from misconduct.

“There is simply a definite constituent of group that deliberation if you spell to prison, you benignant of get immoderate you get successful there,” Woelfel said, adding that while he is still contacted by women alleging intersexual misconduct, nan slew of lawsuits has helped unit nan authorities to ace down. “That taboo of rape aliases intersexual battle … it’s truthful commonplace that group still joke astir that.”

Women person been targeted from their days connected enslaved plantations, erstwhile they were raped by their owners, to nan decades-long play that followed emancipation and progressive leasing convicts retired to backstage companies. Widespread reports of maltreatment yet led to nan creation of reformatories, wherever women nary longer were overseen by men.

That began to alteration successful nan 1970s aft anti-discrimination laws opened nan doorway for cross-gender supervision, conscionable arsenic nan number of women being locked up started to rise. Though they now correspond only astir 10 percent of nan nation’s wide situation population, female incarceration rates person jumped from astir 26,000 successful 1980 to astir 200,000 today.

Some guards judge women pinch constituent maltreatment issues are accustomed to utilizing activity arsenic a commodity connected nan streets, seeing them arsenic partially responsible for their ain victimization, said Brenda Smith, a rule professor astatine American University and 1 of nan country’s apical experts connected situation rape.

“They’re viewed arsenic benignant of nan lowest of nan low,” she said. “They’re not really women — they’re conscionable different things.”

Youst said her lawsuit appears to carnivore that out. She’s retired of situation and said she’s moving to enactment clean, holding down a engaged occupation while building a caller life.

Even earlier nan languishing criminal case, Youst and 3 others from nan Huntington activity merchandise halfway came guardant to record civilian suits against Widen. The cases were settled by nan state’s security bearer for $240,000 successful 2019, pinch nary admittance of immoderate wrongdoing, Woelfel said. The AP interviewed 3 of nan women. The 4th died of an overdose earlier nan statement was reached.

Widen contended nan women were driven by a payday and plotted together, saying, “Me, too! Me, too! Me, too!”

But Alesha Canfield, who was among nan 4 women filing suit, said she talked to nary 1 astir Widen astatine nan center.

She said she was worn retired from moving greeting and day shifts astatine 2 awesome edifice chains, but still struggled to slumber astatine night, worried that Widen would pat her connected nan enarthrosis successful nan dorm and summon her to nan center’s basement.

“I was terrified. I did what I was told,” she said to nan AP, noting that she waited to record a rape study until aft leaving nan installation because she feared retaliation.

“I’m nan criminal,” she said. “He’s nan cop. So why are they going to judge maine anyway?”

Canfield, who related nan aforesaid communicative successful civilian tribunal filings, said it’s difficult to understand why maltreatment down bars isn’t taken much seriously.

“We’re each women,” she said. “Just because we made a correction and sewage caught erstwhile successful our lives doesn’t mean that we should beryllium treated immoderate different than immoderate different female successful this world.”

A caller spike successful scandals, cover-ups and lawsuits linked to women’s accommodation nationwide has prompted legislature investigations and scathing Department of Justice reports that cited a “culture of abuse.” Experts opportunity powerful unions sometimes activity to shield unit from allegations of misconduct. And successful immoderate cases, correctional officers who speak retired are retaliated against.

Things were truthful bad astatine FCI Dublin successful California that prisoners and unit named it “the rape club,” a 2022 AP investigation found. At slightest 2 men who pleaded blameworthy to intersexual maltreatment were activity supervisors: Nakie Nunley targeted astatine slightest 5 female prisoners who worked astatine nan national government’s telephone center, wherever inmates are employed by companies to do jobs for illustration telemarketing and customer service. And Andrew Jones abused women who worked for him successful nan kitchen. The correctional installation was precocious unopen down; Nunley and Jones person been imprisoned on pinch astatine slightest 5 others, pinch different lawsuit still pending.

Brandy Moore White, who heads nan national representing astir 30,000 correctional unit successful national prisons, condemned intersexual maltreatment wrong accommodation and pointed to a request for much resources amid “catastrophic” staffing shortages.

“The astir efficient measurement to supply information and oversight is not cameras and technology, it is staffing,” she told lawmakers during a caller Senate subcommittee hearing, noting that labor besides look intersexual unit and harassment from inmates. “If you person 10 unit supervising 500 inmates, location is clip for group who person sick intentions to do things that they shouldn’t do.”

Many accusations statement that guards took typical attraction to debar surveillance video. A civilian suit revenge successful September said that serviceman Jose Figueroa-Lizarraga moved cameras successful an Arizona authorities installation and raped a captive who was connected a occupation assignment, forcing her wrong nan guard’s power room. After reporting nan incident, nan female was attacked again, nan suit said — alleging that nan 2nd time, moreover her petition for emergency contraception was ignored. She became pregnant and astir died aft hemorrhaging during childbirth.

Figueroa-Lizarraga besides was prosecuted connected criminal charges and pleaded blameworthy to a lesser crime of attempting to perpetrate unlawful intersexual behaviour by a custodian. He was sentenced to 2 years probation successful August.

In immoderate cases, nan allegations of maltreatment widen beyond situation walls.

Correctional serviceman Anthony Martin kept his occupation astatine New York City’s Rikers Island jailhouse moreover aft respective female inmates alleged he sexually abused them by creating typical activity assignments. Then successful March, while off-duty successful Queens, he was arrested for allegedly raping a female successful nan community. In that case, nan territory lawyer moved swiftly. Martin was indicted by a expansive assemblage successful August for first-degree rape and faces up to 25 years if convicted.

“This disparity sends a chilling connection - that nan dignity and authorities of nan incarcerated are worthy little than those connected nan outside,” said lawyer Anna Kull, who is representing a female who alleges Martin abused her while she was locked up.

Other correctional officers accused of maltreatment sometimes modulation into moving pinch moreover much susceptible populations. Youst said it was Widen perchance taking a caller occupation that yet spurred her to act.

“I heard him opportunity thing astir juveniles — you know, moving successful a juvenile facility. That’s erstwhile I knew I had to opportunity something,” she said.

Youst believed she had thing that mightiness extremity him from going anyplace else. She told constabulary that Widen didn’t usage a condom that nighttime and pulled a fistful of napkins retired of his overgarment pouch erstwhile he was done.

“He gave them to maine and stood successful beforehand of maine and made maine swipe myself off,” she said to nan AP, arsenic she antecedently had told police. “I threw them successful nan trash can, and he’s like, ‘No, springiness them backmost to me.’”

As soon arsenic he stepped aside, she said she raced backmost upstairs to her dorm, pulled disconnected her fleece pajamas and achromatic T-shirt and hid them. She tried to debar being unsocial pinch Widen again, but said nan maltreatment continued.

One wintertime morning, she said she stuffed a integrative container containing nan apparel from that nighttime into her overgarment and near nan activity merchandise halfway for her job. She called nan 1 personification she had heard could thief – lawyer Michael Woelfel.

He met her astatine nan mattress mill and took nan container to nan police, handing it complete for DNA testing successful a authorities wherever prisoners cannot legally consent sloppy of circumstances. Though questions were raised astatine nan laboratory astir nan concatenation of custody, it was a lucifer for Widen.

Widen was moving successful West Virginia’s juvenile services section erstwhile he was charged pinch 2 counts of felony activity acts against a captive — Youst. His bail was group astatine $25,000, and he was released connected enslaved six years ago.

He told nan AP that his DNA could person travel from location other successful nan halfway — aliases moreover from his disgruntled ex-wife.

Since being charged, Widen has been assigned 3 defense lawyers by nan state. The original judge retired. And a caller prosecuting attorney, whose agency declined comment, is now connected nan case.

Widen has attended aggregate hearings astatine nan Cabell County courthouse and is expected to look again this month. A proceedings day has not been set.

Just down nan thoroughfare sits nan building that erstwhile housed nan activity merchandise center. It was unopen down 7 years agone owed to disrepair, and coming operates arsenic an addiction wellness center.

Nothing looks nan aforesaid from Youst’s clip location — isolated from nan laundry room and nan cage successful nan basement corner.

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The AP typically does not usage nan names of intersexual battle victims, but nan women making accusations successful this communicative wanted their identities known to promote others to travel forward.

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The Associated Press receives support from nan Public Welfare Foundation for reporting focused connected criminal justice. This communicative besides was supported by Columbia University’s Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights successful conjunction pinch Arnold Ventures. The AP is solely responsible for each content.

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Contact AP’s world investigative squad astatine Investigative@ap.org aliases https://www.ap.org/tips/