The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Pat Caruso, director of the Department of Corrections, told concerned state lawmakers in May that she would not remove the men until a legal challenge to the gender policy was resolved, which could stretch into October. In an interview with The News last week, Caruso said she had moved up the timetable to shift her male employees at Scott Correctional Facility in Plymouth Township to other jobs because there are so few remaining in the inmates' living quarters anyway.

"To do this overnight would put the facilities in turmoil," she said. "We are implementing it in a way we think is least disruptive to the 50,000 prisoners and 18,000 employees," she said.

Even as these changes are carried out, The News has learned that authorities are investigating at least four additional reports of sexual abuse of female inmates this year.

In one case, an inmate produced semen-stained clothing as evidence of an unwanted sexual encounter. In another case, prison officials found sexually suggestive pictures of inmates taken with a camera allegedly smuggled into the prison by a staff member.

These new cases follow Caruso's public declaration in May that the department had long ago reined in the sexual abuse of the 1990s and that sexual abuse in prison is rare.

On Aug. 15, Caruso in a letter froze all personnel moves at all three women's prisons to accommodate the shifting of male officers.

In a second letter sent to all other state prisons, Caruso asked for female volunteers to staff the living quarters at the Scott facility, the Huron Valley Center in Ypsilanti and at Camp Brighton in Chelsea.

She plans to have the last 15 of 44 positions assigned to women only at the Scott facility by Sunday. In the next fiscal year, which begins in October, an academy will begin training women to fill all shift slots at female prisons.

Camp Brighton is expected to be the last facility to adopt the gender policy and the most difficult to implement it because nearly all the jobs include supervising the women's living area, Caruso said.

Deborah Labelle, an Ann Arbor lawyer who is suing Caruso's department over sexual abuse cases, welcomed the moves, but said more reform is needed.

"We're relieved the department is finally removing males from the housing units, but it's clear to me that this alone will not stop the assaults," she said, adding that some abuse cases have involved supervisory staff and other men outside the inmates' living quarters.

Days after Caruso told two legislative committees in May that sexual abuse of female inmates was an old story, a prisoner produced semen-stained shorts to prove what she said was an unwanted encounter with an officer in March.

That guard has been reassigned since a second inmate complained of improper conduct involving him. In that case, an inmate reported in April that he touched her genitals through her cell door.The Michigan State Police are investigating both cases. Caruso said this shows that the department takes such complaints seriously.

While stressing that the complaints are only allegations, Caruso said her staff warns employees daily about avoiding such problems.

"One (case) is too many," she said. "Every day we talk about issues of over familiarity (with prisoners), we talk about contraband. I tell them, 'You will be fired.' We stress that. The union tells them that. We feel strongly about that." The second case also raises another issue that has cost taxpayers in the past: retaliation against those who make a complaint.

Five days after the woman complained about the officer, she received two major misconduct tickets on the same day, one of them involving him. A week later, she said he wrote her a third ticket. Such tickets may be considered by the parole board and can prolong prison stays for inmates.

In June, a 21-year-old prisoner accused a different officer of forcing her to perform a sex act in her cell. She is at least the fourth woman in three years to make a sexual complaint against him. The allegations haven't resulted in criminal charges against the guard.

In a grievance filed with the Corrections Department, she said that in late January or early February, the officer entered her cell and forced her to perform a sex act. Not wanting to endanger her release from prison, she said she did not report it until her parole was approved in June.

Corrections officials said the guard was found guilty of rules violations and disciplined in one of the three earlier cases. He was transferred to a men's prison on Aug. 14 while the State Police investigate the latest complaint.

The three women who filed complaints this year have joined more than 460 current and former prisoners who are suing the state and the Corrections Department, claiming sexual abuse while they were behind bars.

A fourth case under investigation by authorities involves pictures of a 24-year-old inmate in her underwear. The inmate has told investigators that the prison's special activities director took pictures of her and let her take pictures of other prisoners.

Officials only learned of the matter after an officer in the prison's mailroom opened a package for the inmate and found enlargements of pictures taken inside the prison. Prison officials still have not found the camera, raising security concerns at the institution.

In a five-page statement to investigators on June 29, the inmate said the activities director grabbed and kissed her and asked her to pose nude for him. She refused, but did pose in her underwear.

Caruso defended her employees as hard-working professionals who do their jobs faithfully every day. She said both men and women guards have begged her not to reassign the men, but she has no choice because of the agreement entered six years ago with the U.S. Justice Department.

"This is part of the settlement," she said. After widespread complaints, the Justice Department began examining the state's female prisons in 1995. Two years later, and after state officials had vehemently denied there even was a problem, federal authorities sued Michigan over rampant sexual abuse behind bars.

Michigan settled the case in May 1999 by promising several reforms, including removing men from women's living quarters. Prison employees -- including women -- sued to block the state from limiting their job opportunities.

In 2002 a federal judge sided with the employees, but last year the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that ruling.

In June, the employees appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could decide by October whether to hear the case.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0508/22/A01-288231.htm
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