One worker quit under charges he fathered an inmate's child, and it has triggered the first major probe into sexual abuse in California's prison system.
Another worker went on administrative leave under cloud of a pending prosecution for sexual assault. Two more quit when they were found dating parolees, and forty more - including an assistant warden - are being probed.
The Los Angeles Times says it's the first major such probe, and focuses mainly on the state institution for women in Frontera. Officials give the paper few details of charges into which they're looking, but one state lawmaker found more fodder for his ongoing criticism of the prison system.
"Once again," says Los Angeles Democratic Senator Richard Polanco, "we have another embarrassing moment, another black eye to the California correctional system." And he also tells the Times the probe may also zero in on an assistant warden, unidentified, who may have been aware of the sexual misconduct but did not take any action against it.
Corrections officials said Wednesday several women's prison wardens called for staff misconduct investigations, according to the paper, but this probe's disclosure comes right on top of human rights group pressures.
Department of Corrections director Cal Terhune tells the paper he wants all inappropriate behavior eliminated. "Sexual misconduct between prison staff and inmates is particularly abhorrent because of the inherent problems of staff having complete authority over inmates." He also says the department is establishing a hotline for women inmates offering direct access to the internal affairs office.
The probe went from the charge of a staffer fathering an inmate's child to uncovering more cases of suspected illegal and inappropriate behavior between staff and prisoners, the Times says.
The department announced the probe Wednesday. And it's the first public surfacing of suspected wrongdoing in state prisons during Gov. Gray Davis's administration. Under his predecessor, Pete Wilson, several flaps plagued California's prison system, focusing on guard brutality at high-security men's lockups, says the Times.
With 11,500 female inmates, California leads the nation in imprisoned women and hosts the world's two largest women's prisons, both in the San Joaquin Valley town Chowchilla. Both have withstood charges of sexual abuse and poor medical care, the Times says.
New York-based Human Rights Watch says it's found female inmates are very often sexual assault victims while California procedures to probe and disclose such abuse usually are flawed and have a heavy bias favoring prison guards. Two of the corrections workers who resigned amid the current probe were guards, the Times says.
Terhune mentions an April memo in which he warned prison workers there was and is no such thing as consensual sex between staff and inmates. And the Times says the department supports a bill by Polanco dealing with the issue, which raises penalties for guards and other prison workers involved in sexual activities with inmates. It also lets a judge have more discretion to rule if the first offense is a felony or misdemeanor. Repeat offenses would be felonies worth 2-4 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
Current law makes a first offense a misdemeanor and repeat offenses get 16 months to three years.
