By Scott Sandlin
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A female inmate raped by a prison guard in 2007 testified Tuesday about conditions at the newly opened Camino Nuevo facility in Albuquerque where she had been moved from the women’s prison in Grants.
Heather Spurlock Jackson, 39, was the first witness at the civil trial in U.S. District Court brought against the guard, Anthony Townes, now serving an 18-year prison sentence for raping her and three other women. Other defendants are the prison operator, Corrections Corporation of America, and then-warden Barbara Wagner.
Spurlock, Sophia Carrasco and Nina Carrera allege federal civil rights violations because they say inmate complaints were discouraged. They also contend that CCA and Wagner were negligent in hiring and in supervision of the contract facility.
Spurlock described a setting that was harsher and less organized than the women’s facility in Grants where she had spent the previous five years without write-ups. She said Grants was strict but that it had programs - she had earned two associate’s degrees through a distance learning program while there - and staff who recognized the humanity of the residents.
Spurlock and the other 200 or so inmates moved to Camino Nuevo hadn’t volunteered for the transfer but seemed to have been picked at random, she said. They were loaded onto buses and taken to the old Bernalillo County jail in Downtown Albuquerque because Camino Nuevo wasn’t ready. They stayed there for three months before being taken to the new facility, which still seemed unready to receive them. There were no programs, no handbook and only a minimal briefing before the women were locked down in their cells.
Spurlock will testify starting today about the rape, but her attorney, Nicole Moss, said Townes “raped, stalked, threatened and terrorized” inmates at the facility and that his behavior went unchecked without anyone intervening.
U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson already has determined liability for Townes. The question for the jury of eight will be the amount of damages attributable to him and whether and how much damages the company and the warden should be responsible for.
Daniel P. Struck, a Phoenix lawyer defending CCA and Wagner, told the jury in his opening statement that the women had numerous opportunities to report the sexual assaults but did not, including through a tip line that went to the state Corrections Department.
“It wasn’t fear (of retribution) that kept them from reporting,” he said. Spurlock, serving a 16-year term for embezzling $16,000 from a nonprofit, was involved in a voluntary relationship with Townes, he said, and there was an effort to conceal it.
Copyright 2012 Albuquerque Journal