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| Louisiana prison officers face charges |
| By The Birmingham News |
| Published: 04/07/2004 |
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A Louisiana district attorney plans to pursue criminal charges against officers at a private prison who have been accused of improper sexual contact with Alabama inmates. "There is definite misconduct that did occur, and we will follow through with it," Evangeline Parish District Attorney Brent Coreil said Tuesday. Later this week, he expects to make a decision about whether to file direct charges or present a case to a grand jury. About 200 female prisoners from Alabama remain at the South Louisiana Correctional Center, where they were transferred last year to help relieve overcrowding at Tutwiler Prison for Women. The Basile, La., lockup is owned and operated by LCS Corrections, a for-profit company in Lafayette, La. Alabama pays the company about $23 per inmate per day to house the women. The criminal case is the result of an investigation begun by the Alabama Department of Corrections. "ADOC's investigation produced a confession from an employee at South Louisiana Correctional Center, along with subsequent termination of that employee. We then turned our investigative report over to the local district attorney for prosecution," said Alabama prisons spokesman Brian Corbett. The investigation concerns an incident that occurred late last year. Coreil said that more than one woman claimed to be assaulted, and more than one officer is under investigation. He said he is not sure how many allegations have been substantiated so he declined to give further details. After Alabama officials turned over several hundred pages of reports to Coreil's office, he assigned an investigator and an assistant DA to the case. They are trying to determine what criminal charges to pursue, and trying to make sure the Alabama victims will be available for a trial, if necessary. In Louisiana, it is illegal for prison officers to have sexual relations, consensual or forced, with inmates - a law that Alabama has not adopted. Alabama began sending women out of state last April in order to comply with federal court pressure to improve conditions at Tutwiler, which was declared unconstitutionally unsafe in December 2002. |
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