LITTLE ROCK – The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that it has opened an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse and harassment at an Arkansas women’s prison.
The department’s Civil Rights Division has received “numerous allegations” of sexual abuse and sexual harassment allegedly committed by “multiple members of McPherson Unit staff,” according to a news release issued late Thursday.
Arkansas Department of Correction spokeswoman Cathy Frye said the allegations stem from an incident with one former employee at the McPherson Unit in Newport.
“We became aware last December of allegations against a former staff member at the McPherson Unit. That staff member is no longer with the Department of Correction. He was gone by the time we heard the allegations against him,” Frye said.
“We reported the allegations to the Arkansas State Police, and it is my understanding that the state police turned over the investigation to the local prosecuting attorney in April,” she added.
Frye said she could not release the name of the employee or say how many prisoners were involved. She said more information would be released Friday.
Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler confirmed that his agency investigated at least one prison employee with the help of the Department of Correction.
“Based on the facts in the (Department of Justice) news release today, it appears that these allegations are quite similar to the ones that the state police were involved in investigating earlier this year,” Sadler said.
He said investigators had given a criminal case file to the prosecuting attorney’s office in Newport, and he directed additional questions about the investigation to that office.
A call late Thursday to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for the Third Judicial District in Newport was not immediately returned.
The allegations made to the Department of Justice include prison staff having sex or engaging in sexual acts with prisoners, prison staff exchanging commissary money for sexual favors or sexual acts, prison staff watching prisoners shower or change clothes and making inappropriate sexual remarks and prison staff taking inappropriate photos or videos of prisoners.
Department of Justice officials said the agency has not determined whether the allegations are true.
“Staff sexual abuse of prisoners violates the constitutional rights of prisoners, undermines prison safety and security and can lead to other crimes,” Vanita Gupta, head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, wrote in the release.
(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten, broadcast or distributed.)
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