EVEN A LIAR IS CAPABLE OF TELLING THE TRUTH

by Bob Walsh

I worked inside a prison for 24 years. That led me to the conclusion that, generally speaking, prisoners are lying sacks of shit. That being said they do, on occasion, tell the truth and some of them are more truthful as a rule than some of the staff.

An unnamed female former prisoner has just filed a federal suit against the Warren County (Cincinnati, Ohio) jail, two "guards" and seven other staffers, including several nurses and the medical department administrator. Amidst all of the verbiage which may, or may not, be bullshit there is one undeniable truth and at least a couple of others that are fairly solid.

The woman claims that during her 13-day stay at the jail she was raped by several guards, denied her medication, physically as well as sexually assaulted and generally treated so poorly as to create a cruel and unusual punishment scenario.

The woman had turned herself in on a four year old warrant for obtaining drugs by deception. OK, so she is a druggie. One strike against her, and automatically you take anything she says with a huge grain of salt. The suit says the medical staff refused to give her her anti-seizure medication, leaving her vulnerable and unable to care for herself. That will, I imagine, be reflected in blood tests.

The suit claims the medial staff lied to her lawyer about providing her her medication. Allegedly the prison doctor wrote a specific order for the staff to provide the meds. Allegedly they did not. After continuing a downward spiral she was eventually taken to a real outside hospital. Tests done at the hospital showed semen present in her urine, indicating absolutely that she had sex while at the jail. Allegedly this information was not forwarded by jail medical staff to jail custody staff. It is also alleged the jail took no action to protect her from further sexual assault. She had unexplained blood on her clothing after returning to the jail.

At a rape crisis center, shortly after her release from jail, she identified one of her alleged attackers by name and provided a sketch artist with input for a drawing. It closely resembles the correctional officer named in her suit. She has a bone "shattered" in her shoulder, consistent with her complaint of being held down face down on her bunk and raped.

The jail made no attempt to process the cell as a crime scene and disposed of the mattress that was in the cell at the time of the alleged rape. The FBI did investigate but was unable to come up with any physical evidence. The woman was housed in a psych facility for a period after her release, which isn't going to do much for her credibility but which may be understandable if she is being truthful.

She had sex with someone, maybe voluntarily, maybe not, while in jail. That is indisputable. Any such act is rape under the law, whether or not it was voluntary on her part. She does have a busted up shoulder. Her medical situation was allowed to decline remarkably while in custody. Those are all FACTS.

If they kept enough of that sample to match it to someone it will help her case immeasurably, depending on who it comes back to. Even crazy people have rights, and they are often in more need of protection than those who are not. In addition, if they are doing reasonably well when they are on their meds and they are denied their meds to push them over the edge, something is very wrong.

I am not saying she will win. I am not saying she should win. I am saying she has a case that deserves to be looked at.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Bob, with all the years you spent as a corrections professional, I can understand the defensiveness in this post. I do not think this woman's attorney would have files this lawsuit without compelling evidence to back it up. While most correctional officers do a good job despite being underpaid in a very stressful job, you will always find some rotten apples in every jail and prison system.

You are correct when you say even a liar is capable of telling the truth.