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| Inmate allowed to sue prison |
| By Charlottesville Daily Progress |
| Published: 11/29/2004 |
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The Virginia Supreme Court has allowed an inmate at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women to proceed with a lawsuit against the state Department of Corrections, investigators who worked at the prison and an employee who took advantage of her sexually. Though a Fluvanna judge had dismissed the case, the Supreme Court has resurrected it, ruling that the trial court was in error when it found that inmate Paula Billups had failed to exhaust her remedies through the corrections department before filing suit. Billups, who is serving a life sentence for murder, is asking for $500,000 in compensation and $350,000 in punitive damages, and alleges that she was forced to perform oral sex on a prison employee against her will. Billups' attorney, Steven D. Rosenfield, said his client was convicted for her role in a plot to kill her abusive husband. In February 2001, Billups complained to prison officials that Cameron Carter, an employee at the all-women prison, forced her to engage in sexual activity by threatening her with false reports of misconduct, the lawsuit states. Billups and Carter, who was a supervisor in the prison kitchen, engaged in oral sex on "several occasions" in early 2001, according to the lawsuit. Carter's employment with the prison ended the day of Billups' February complaint, and he pleaded guilty in August 2001 to having carnal knowledge of an inmate without force, a felony. Judge John R. Cullen sentenced Carter, now 58, to serve four months in jail, with two years of supervised probation. In a second lawsuit, Billups alleges that Department of Corrections investigators learned that Carter had used his position in the kitchen to harass women prisoners before Billups made her complaint. In its ruling, the high court overturned Judge Cullen's decision to dismiss both lawsuits, finding that Billups had "substantially complied" with rules on giving notice of a lawsuit when she told the investigators about the final incident within 30 days of its occurrence, that she had complied with the statute of limitations and exhausted all administrative remedies at the prison. If successful in her suit, Billups could keep the money in an account outside of prison, but could buy items for herself only from the prison commissary. The most expensive items Billups could buy in prison are radios and televisions. |
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