FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Kara Gotsch, 202-393-4930
December 2, 2004
WASHINGTON- A 25-year-old
Texas prisoner who was repeatedly raped by a
prison guard with a history of sexual assault accepted a settlement in which
his rapist and the assistant warden who failed to protect him agreed to pay
substantial money damages, the American Civil Liberties Union announced
today.
"Today's settlement victory provides hope for the untold men and women raped
in prison by officers and staff," said Margaret Winter, Associate Director
of the ACLU's National Prison Project and the prisoner's attorney.
"Victims of sexual assault in prison often feel powerless in opposing their
attackers and must overcome tremendous intimidation and fear of retaliation
before they can even report abuse. Nathan Essary's success in fighting back
provides a powerful reminder that abuse of prisoners will not go
unpunished."
According to an ACLU lawsuit, Nathan Essary was ordered to masturbate and
perform oral sex on Officer Michael Chaney at the Luther Unit in Navasota,
Texas on multiple occasions in October 2001. Essary reported the abuse to
Luther Unit Assistant Warden Jerry Barratt, who promised him protection.
However, that same day Essary was forced to return to work at the prison
laundry where Chaney supervised him and sexually assaulted him again.
During two separate attacks, Essary secretly collected Chaney's ejaculate on
a handkerchief and mailed a sample to the United States Attorney in Houston.
After DNA testing on the sample linked Chaney to the sexual assaults, Prison
Prosecutor Kelly Weeks issued an affidavit for Chaney's arrest in January
2002.
When the ACLU filed its lawsuit against Chaney and Barratt on Essary's
behalf in October 2002, information emerged that Chaney had sexually
harassed and abused other prisoners at the Luther Unit, but complaints from
prisoners to prison staff were repeatedly ignored. In a statement filed in
federal court, former prisoner Garrett Cunningham said he was anally raped
in the same laundry area one year prior to Essary's assault. After
reporting the rape to prison staff, Cunningham was transferred from his job
in the laundry to a position in the room next door. Chaney continued to
harass Cunningham but complaints against the officer were never
investigated.
"Victims of prison rape suffer at the hands of both their attackers and the
administrators who choose to ignore their pleas for protection," said
Meredith Martin Rountree, Director of the ACLU of Texas' Prison and Jail
Accountability Project and co-counsel in the lawsuit. "The Texas Department
of Criminal Justice's inaction is intolerable and unconstitutional."
A separate prisoner rape lawsuit filed by the National Prison Project on
behalf of Roderick Johnson, a gay former prisoner who was repeatedly raped
by Texas prison gangs, won a favorable ruling in September from the 5th
Circuit Court of Appeals. The court found that prison officials can be sued
for damages due to discrimination based on sexual orientation. Johnson's
case will go to trial in July 2005.
Today's case, Nathan Essary v. Michael Chaney, et al., was settled in U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of Texas by Winter of the ACLU's
National Prison Project and Rountree of the ACLU of Texas' Prison and Jail
Accountability Project.
For more information on the Roderick Johnson case, go to:
http://www.aclu.org/Prisons/Prisons.cfm?ID=16418&c=26
