NAMPA, Idaho (AP) - A former inmate at a Nampa facility run by the Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections has filed a tort claim contending that he was sexually abused by female staffers.
The Idaho Press-Tribune reports (https://bit.ly/1nX2WJR) that the unnamed plaintiff on Thursday filed the tort claim that’s a precursor to a lawsuit.
The plaintiff is seeking $1.2 million.
“The Idaho Department of Juvenile Correction Nampa is guilty of malicious, reckless and grossly negligent behavior in its hiring and training practice to allow sexual predators to have continued access to inmates,” wrote Bruce Skaug, attorney for the plaintiff.
Idaho Department of Correction spokesman Jeff Ray told The Associated Press that he had no comment due to pending litigation.
The tort claim said the plaintiff entered the facility in the spring of 2008. During orientation and assessment, the tort claim said he was diagnosed as easily misled and suffering from abandonment and relationship problems.
The tort claim said the juvenile was the victim of battery and sexual abuse by female staffers, and was forced to participate in fistfights organized by staff members.
The tort claim said that staff members threatened him with bodily harm if he ever talked about crimes taking place in the facility.
The claim said an unnamed staffer, called “Jane L. Doe,” gave the juvenile money in exchange for sex and threatened to turn him in for having cash at the facility if he declined. She also, the claim said, told him that she’d revoke his privileges and tell his friends and family about the sex acts if he revealed the abuse to anyone.
The claim said that she and another unnamed female staffer, referred to as “Jane H. Doe,” watched male inmates shower “for their own prurient interests.”
After his release in 2010, the claim states that “Jane L. Doe” stalked him, appearing at his home demanding sexual favors and threatening to have others beat him if he refused. The claim said the threats continued until 2013.
In a different case, the former safety and security supervisor at the facility in Nampa, Julie McCormick, pleaded guilty last year to sexually abusing a 15-year-old juvenile offender. The juvenile has also filed a tort claim against the state.
On another front, documents filed in a whistleblower lawsuit against the Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections show what appears to be an inconsistent approach to investigating allegations of staffers behaving inappropriately with kids.
A group of current and former employees filed the lawsuit in 2012, alleging some staffers at the Nampa juvenile detention facility sexually abused incarcerated youths. Their lawsuit also contends that the department is rife with cronyism and that managers failed to take effective action when one juvenile was caught inappropriately touching another.
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Information from: Idaho Press-Tribune, https://www.idahopress.com
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