By Maxine Bernstein
oregonlive.com
PORTLAND, Ore. — The state has agreed to pay $122,500 to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by a prisoner who accused a supervisor in the Deer Ridge Correctional Institution of sexually harassing and abusing him.
The supervisor, Christine Zamora, worked for Oregon Corrections Enterprises and was fired, according to court records and state officials.
Zamora has agreed to pay an additional $1,000 to the plaintiff, under the settlement filed Tuesday in federal court in Portland.
The prisoner is only identified in the suit by the initials J.M.H. because he fears retribution or harassment in custody, his lawyers wrote in the suit.
Oregon Corrections Enterprises is described by the state as a semi-independent agency that gives prisoners opportunities to work while in custody in state prisons.
Zamora managed the call center where the prisoner worked in the Deer Ridge prison, located in Madras. She began to spend her breaks with the inmate, promoted him to a lead role at the call center, passed flirtatious notes to him and asked him to respond and describe his fantasies, according to the lawsuit.
The notes escalated to her directing him to meet her in secluded areas of the prison. She performed oral sex on him in one such area of the prison’s call center in May 2023 , the suit states.
Zamora had been hired by Oregon Corrections Enterprises on Dec. 14, 2022 , and was still on probation when the state terminated her on May 26, 2023 .
Her annual salary was $55,464, according to Amber Campbell , a state corrections department spokesperson.
Zamora, 41, of Madras , pleaded guilty last summer in Jefferson County Circuit Court to first-degree custodial sexual misconduct, a felony.
The crime occurred between December 2022 and July 1, 2023 , according to court records. She was sentenced to 10 days in jail and three years of supervised probation, ordered to never work in a correctional institution and barred from having any contact with anyone in prison unless approved by a probation officer.
“The Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) holds employees to high standards of professionalism and ethical conduct,” Campbell said by email. “Misconduct violates our mission and the trust placed in our agency. When allegations arise, we act swiftly, collaborate with law enforcement as appropriate, and follow established employee personnel processes for our employees.”
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