The warden resigned and five correctional officers at the privately run Brush Correctional Facility for women in Colorado face sexual misconduct and contraband charges in the wake of a criminal probe.
Warden Rick Soares resigned from Tennessee-based GRW, which owns the 250-bed prison in Brush, on Feb. 18 after a month-long investigation implicated the five officers, said Alison Morgan, state Department of Corrections spokeswoman. The warden was not implicated in the wrongdoing.
The department's inspector general's office referred contraband allegations involving two staff members and one inmate and sexual misconduct allegations involving three staff members to District Attorney Robert Watson last Thursday.
Three officers who were not named had sex with four Hawaiian inmates, two Colorado inmates and one Wyoming inmate, Morgan said. Two of the officers resigned, and a third is on administrative leave pending the outcome of the criminal case.
Some of the women alleged they were raped, but investigators concluded the sex was consensual, sometimes initiated by inmates, Morgan said. It's still a felony offense for correctional officers, she said.
"It's human nature coupled with bad choices," she said.
Officers could have to register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives, Morgan said.
She said some Hawaiian and Wyoming inmates acknowledged they had sex with correctional officers because they believed they would be returned home, where they would be closer to relatives.
Others hoped to file lawsuits against the prison.
Two officers and an inmate were caught sneaking tobacco into the prison, Morgan said.
The Department of Corrections is sending 20 department prison experts to train and mentor Brush prison officers for the next 30 days, she said.
Soares contacted the department about several sexual assault allegations brought by inmates on Jan. 11, Morgan said.
The Brush prison, which became the first private prison for women in Colorado in August 2003, holds 80 inmates from Hawaii, 73 from Colorado and 45 from Wyoming. Colorado pays $50 a day to GRW to house its prisoners.