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| Inmate, Officer Sex Laws Are Up for Review in Utah |
| By The Salt Lake Tribune |
| Published: 01/29/2001 |
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Utah prison officials are pushing for a new law that would enable them to prosecute Corrections or parole officers who have consensual sex with inmates. Such a law is necessary, says Department of Corrections Deputy Director Jesse Gallegos, because Corrections officers can currently avoid criminal prosecution if an inmate had sex with them voluntarily. But under the proposed law, 'consent of the [inmate] is not a defense,' said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Paula Julander, D-Salt Lake City. The proposal, Senate Bill 4, was unanimously approved recently by the Senate Judiciary Standing Committee and is now headed to the Senate floor. In the past four years, six Corrections officers at the Utah State Prison were investigated for allegedly having sexual relations with inmates, Gallegos said. The investigation of one of the accused officers is still pending, he said, but the five other officers were terminated after supervisors found substantial evidence of wrongdoing. One of the fired officers, Jerry Gene Kessler, was sentenced to a year in jail for forcing two inmates to perform oral sex. There is already a policy in place forbidding state Corrections or parole officers from engaging in sexual relationships with inmates, Gallegos said, but the rule has its weaknesses. Most prisons nationwide have prohibitive sex laws that are more strict than Utah's. Under the proposal, any officer who has sexual relations with an inmate could be charged with a third-degree felony -- punishable by up to 5 years in prison -- or a class A misdemeanor. If passed, Julander's proposal would also mean that Corrections officials convicted of sex crimes with an inmate would lose their certification, leaving them unable to obtain a job with prisons elsewhere. |
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