Published: November 18, 2009 09:46 am      

Prisons chief: ‘Zero tolerance’ of sex crimes in institutions

21 lawsuits filed in past five years over alleged misconduct

CHARLESTON — Twenty-one lawsuits were filed over alleged sexual misconduct inside West Virginia’s prisons within the past five years, a legislative panel learned Tuesday.

None involved the state’s maximum-security facility, Mount Olive Correctional Complex in Fayette County, however, Corrections Commissioner Jim Rubenstein said.

Rather, he said, the lawsuits were focused on two institutions — the youthful offender facility at Anthony in Greenbrier County and a women’s prison at Lakin, Mason County.

Rubenstein assured the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority that stringent steps are taken to discourage any sexual intimacy between officers and inmates.

“I dare say, if you were to ask any of our corrections staff, one of the first things they learn and hear at the academy, and through orientation, is no sex with inmates, plain and simple,” the commissioner told Sen. Bill Laird, D-Fayette.

“We’re very proactive on this. We have a zero tolerance.”

If a rumor about sexual misconduct is deemed credible, Rubenstein said, the matter is immediately turned over to the State Police for an investigation.

From there, he said, the Division of Corrections cooperates with the local prosecutor when a case is being prepared.

“We don’t turn a blind eye on this in any manner,” Rubenstein said.

He was unable to say how many of the lawsuits have been resolved through the court system.

A separate report, filed in response to questions raised by a committee co-chairman, Sen. Randy White, D-Webster, said two such suits have been initiated against the Regional Jail Authority — one involving Southern Regional Jail near Beckley and South Central Regional Jail in Charleston between Jan. 1 and Aug.1 of last year.

In neither case has any action been taken against any employees, White was informed.

Rubenstein told Laird the complaints at the prison level ranged from harassment to consensual sex to “something more severe,” without elaborating.

No scuttlebutt involving alleged sexual misconduct is ignored, he told Laird.

Rubenstein said anyone officer suspected of engaging in sexual offenses is suspended, pending the outcome of an investigation.

“We take the safe route on that,” he said.

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com