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| Minn. Inmate Alleges Rape at Local Prison |
| By Shakopee Valley News |
| Published: 10/23/2002 |
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Police are investigating an allegation that a corrections officer at the Minnesota Correctional Facility for women in Shakopee raped a 29-year-old inmate late Saturday night. According to Shakopee police, the woman reported that she was walking from her minimum-security room she shares with two other women to the control center for pain relief for a headache between 11 p.m. and midnight. She claimed a guard met her in the stairwell and raped her, said Deputy Police Chief Jerry Poole. Police were called to the prison at 12:26 a.m. Sunday and the inmate was taken to St. Francis Regional Medical Center for treatment. The guard refused to speak with officers, Poole said. The guard has been placed on paid administrative leave, said Dan O'Brien, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Corrections. He said the DOC might conduct an internal investigation after police have concluded their investigation. The guard has been employed with the DOC less than one year. Poole said police have no evidence to confirm or refute the woman's claim that she was held down by the guard and raped in the stairwell. Poole said no evidence of the assault was evident on the various security cameras throughout the building. He said investigators are awaiting results of samples collected at the hospital. O'Brien said the safety of staff and inmates are the DOC's 'highest priority.' Along with criminal sexual conduct laws, O'Brien noted that the 2001 Legislature passed a bill making it a felony offense for a corrections officer to engage in sexual conduct with an inmate. 'We take that law very seriously,' O'Brien said. O'Brien declined further comment on the incident or the investigation. 'Right now it's totally in the hands of law enforcement,' he said. |
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