Three Michigan women who worked for a state prison in the Upper Peninsula have been charged with illegal sexual activity with male inmates, an unusual twist on a law generally regarded as protecting female prisoners.
Two former employees, Jody Lynne Axley and Kathy Lynn Sleep, have admitted helping a man escape from Baraga Maximum Security Prison last year. The other, Jill Usitalo, was a corrections officer in the prison's minimum-security unit. All three are charged in criminal complaints with second-degree criminal sexual conduct, which carries a maximum 15-year sentence, Baraga County Prosecutor Joseph O'Leary said Thursday.
"To our knowledge, this is the first time" women employees have been charged with having sexual contact with male prisoners, said Leo LaLonde, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Department director Patricia Caruso supports the prosecutions, LaLonde added.
"This type of activity is not acceptable," he said. Women prison workers have been fired for having sex with male inmates, but it's hard to prosecute them because the men don't cooperate, O'Leary said. Yet it's important to enforce the law because improper fraternization can have serious consequences, O'Leary said, adding that the cases should send other prison workers a "loud and clear message."
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