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| Prisons not acting to stop sex misconduct |
| By Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |
| Published: 08/23/2004 |
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More than a year and a half after a mentally ill inmate at a Wisconsin prison was impregnated by a officer and ordered to serve nearly a year of solitary confinement as punishment, the state Department of Corrections has not acted to ensure that a similar fate does not await other inmates. Corrections Secretary Matt Frank conceded in an interview that no changes in department policies had been made despite detailed recommendations by federal consultants and the passage of a state law criminalizing sexual contact between officerss and inmates. He said reforms are on the horizon and that effective change takes time. But legislators and prison watch groups said the slow pace of reform is outrageous. "This is totally unacceptable that we've waited this long," said Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) after learning that the department had failed to act on recommendations by the federal consultants. "It's common sense: Sexual misconduct is wrong, there needs to be thorough investigations of it, and anyone involved should be fired." In the aftermath of the highly publicized case of Jackie Noyes, the inmate who became pregnant while at Taycheedah Correctional Institution in 2002, the Department of Corrections hired consultants from an arm of the U.S. Justice Department to determine whether problems with sexual misconduct extended beyond the women's prison. The consultants reviewed department policies and procedures, toured Taycheedah and other prisons, and interviewed inmates and staff. In a report dated July 2003 that was recently obtained by the Journal Sentinel, they identified numerous systemic problems that stretched across the department, including: The lack of standardized training of prison staff in charge of investigations. The failure to maintain a centralized system that tracks investigations. The absence of a policy that defines sexual misconduct. A policy of segregating inmates who come forward with allegations of misconduct. The consultants recommended that the department: Issue a directive that clearly defines sexual misconduct and requires department staff to report inappropriate conduct observed by any employee. Develop a policy that details steps for initiating and conducting investigations. Begin mandatory training of all staff on the implications of the new state law criminalizing sexual contact between inmates and staff, and notify inmates of the law. Review the policy of placing inmates in administrative segregation pending investigations of sexual misconduct. A group of employees from the Department of Corrections assigned to review the consultants' recommendations agreed that most were necessary. In a report dated February 2004, the group suggests ways to implement them. But Frank confirmed this week that, even with the group's stamp of approval, the department still has no definition of sexual misconduct; staff have received no training on the new law; inmates have not been informed of it; and inmates in relationships with officerss that come under investigation continue to be placed in segregation. Frank said the department plans to make reforms on "everything from training of staff to changing protocols and procedures" based on the recommendations, although he refused to say which ones and when. He said the large size of the department makes it difficult to implement reforms quickly. But the department could have made basic and necessary changes right away, said Angie Hougas, Amnesty International's Wisconsin coordinator. State Rep. Sheldon Wasserman (D-Milwaukee) said he understood that changing the bureaucracy of a $1 billion department is not easy. But he said the grave nature of sexual misconduct warrants faster action by the department's leadership. |
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