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| Inmate's Lawyers File Suit In Texas |
| By Newsday |
| Published: 10/21/2002 |
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Attorneys for a Texas prisoner who they say was sexually assaulted by a correction officer - but had the composure to collect the semen from his attacker - have filed a lawsuit seeking damages from the officer and his superior. The federal lawsuit alleges that Michael T. Chaney, a seven-year officer who worked in the Luther Unit in Navasota, Texas, forced Nathan Essary, 23, to perform oral sex on the officer and to massage his genitals in three instances last October. Chaney, who resigned in January, also faces criminal charges. Each time, the suit said, Essary was able to absorb some of the semen into a handkerchief. He mailed the material to authorities, who arrested Chaney. The suit, filed October 8, is the second one in six months that the American Civil Liberties Union has filed on behalf of a Texas prisoner alleging sexual assault. The ACLU sued in April on behalf of Roderick Johnson, who said authorities at the Allred Unit allowed him to become a sex slave for predatory prison gangs. 'The nature of the coercion that's involved is that Officer Chaney said that if Mr. Essary spoke up about it or refused, he would have gangs 'cross him out,' which means to kill him,' said Meredith Roundtree, a private attorney who is trying the case for the ACLU. The lawsuit also names as a defendant Jerry Barrett, a 29-year employee of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Barrett, Roundtree said, is the warden who not only failed to act when Essary reported the first instance of abuse, but also kept Essary under Chaney's supervision. Department spokesmen declined to comment, but Frank Blazek, Chaney's attorney, said, 'My client denies the charges, and that's the gist of our public position.' Kelly Weeks, a special prosecutor who is handling the Chaney case, said the charges on which Chaney was indicted May 30 - two counts of improper sexual contact with a person in custody and aggravated sexual assault - are very serious. The sexual contact charge is punishable by 180 days to 2 years in jail, and the sexual assault charge by a prison term of 5 years to 99 years. |
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