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For years, male officers at the women’s work camp at Coleman Federal Correctional Complex sexually harassed and assaulted inmates in what amounted to a “sanctuary” for systemic abuse, a space where they were shielded from any consequences.
If the women complained about being groped, fondled or forced to perform sex acts on officers, the inmates were the ones who were punished.
Fourteen women, ranging in age from 30 to 56 and nearly all first-time offenders, have banded together to sue the United States, not under pseudonyms but under their real names, over the abuse they say they’ve endured at the Bureau of Prisons-operated camp. Seven of the women are still incarcerated.
The lawsuit seeks compensation and an overhaul of the prison. It was filed this week.
Coleman officials did not immediately respond to a request from the Miami Herald for comment.
The litigation is the latest manifestation of dysfunction in a federal prison system that seemingly hit bottom when Jeffrey Epstein, perhaps the most high-profile detainee in the nation, was found hanged Aug. 10 in his cell at another BOP facility, the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, while officers dozed nearby. The death, which led to the summary removal of the acting director of the prison system, has been termed a suicide. It occurred despite what was described as a previous suicide attempt three weeks earlier.
Although it touches on a second institution in Tallahassee, the lawsuit focuses primarily on Coleman, the largest prison complex in the federal system. Located in Sumter County near Wildwood, it houses more than 6,000 inmates in a series of compounds and camps, including roughly 500 women, the complaint says
In stark, chilling detail, the lawsuit describes pervasive abuse — how women were coerced and threatened, how they were lured into private offices or remote sheds with no surveillance cameras, or stalked relentlessly by corrections officers until they had no choice but to submit.
The officers — all of whom are identified in the lawsuit, at least by last name — would at times display computer screens showing the women the exact location of their families, a pointed message that their relatives could be targeted if the women didn’t cooperate. Some of the women had minor children.In some cases, officers wanted to maintain relationships with the women after they had served their time, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit says Coleman employed no fewer than seven officers who took advantage of their authority and access to sexually abuse the women. Some of the officers had been investigated for sexual abuse in the past, with nothing coming of it, the lawsuit alleges.
The Miami Herald requested personnel files on all of the named officers to see if there were telltale warnings in their backgrounds. The Bureau of Prisons responded that absent an “overriding public interest,” it would not provide such documents, calling the provision of such records “an unwarranted invasion of their personal privacy.”
The male staffers maintained total control over the women’s lives, safety and well-being. At least one victim said she was ordered to begin birth control to avoid the possibility of becoming pregnant and another was given a morning-after pill by an officer.
Some of the accused corrections officers have resigned or taken early retirement — without punishment, and with immunity from being criminally prosecuted for the actions they admitted to — said the women’s lawyer, Bryan Busch.
One reason the women didn’t come forward until now was a prison policy calling for anyone who complained to be sent to the county jail, according to the lawsuit. Although these transfers were described as a way to maintain the women’s safety, they were intended as punishment since a county jail is far more restrictive than a federal work camp, the women say in their lawsuit. Being transferred would cost them the progress they made in their training and work programs.
“The prison certainly did not want this to come out so they suppressed any sort of allegations that were made, and did not conduct complete and full investigations,” Busch said.
This woman was beaten so badly, they broke her neck and now she's a QUADRIPLEGIC.
Quote:
Weimar, serving time on a domestic violence-related charge, has a history of mental and physical disabilities. She has been incarcerated since January 2016. She was on prison work duty at Lowell Correctional Institution on Aug. 21 when officers ordered her to get on her knees and scrub a toilet. Weimar, who has a hip condition, complained that she was in pain and unable to do the task.
Two officers became angry, and Weimar, fearing she would be harmed, declared a medical emergency, which, under FDC policy, requires medical personnel to intervene. The officers became confrontational with Weimar. The confrontation triggered a psychological episode requiring medical intervention, according to a federal civil rights lawsuit she filed against the agency in September.
The officers allegedly slammed Weimar to the ground, beat her with blows to the neck, breaking the neck, the lawsuit says. They then dragged her “like a rag doll” across the compound, as her head bounced, and once outside, they continued the beating in an area not covered by surveillance cameras, the suit says. She was handcuffed throughout the attack, the suit says.
In a 911 call, a distraught prison nurse told a dispatcher an ambulance was needed immediately because Weimar had been unconscious and unresponsive and was barely breathing.
Prison system records show that one of the officers involved in the assault, Keith Turner, has a long history of complaints filed against him by female inmates who said he had threatened them, groped them and tackled them. One inmate said he threatened to kill her, another said he body-slammed her into a chair and another said he handcuffed her outside in 93-degree heat for three hours and refused to give her water. He routinely gave inmates cigarettes in exchange for oral sex and one inmate was rumored to have become pregnant by him, the records showed.
Some pretty sick stuff going on. The only thing to do is make an example out of those responsible. But a lot of people complain that our legal system is too lenient on police and corrections officers. I don't think they are going to get away with just giving a slap on the wrist for this stuff though.
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