Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. — A former male prisoner who was sexually assaulted by a guard can sue Nebraska’s corrections department for what he says was retaliation after he reported the incident, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The 33-year-old inmate sued guard Anthony Hansen, the Department of Correctional Services and other prison officials for $150,000. The Associated Press generally does not identify victims of sexual assault.
A three-judge panel of the Nebraska Court of Appeals overturned part of an earlier ruling by Douglas County District Judge Michael Coffey, who had dismissed the entire case after state officials argued that they were immune from lawsuits. The appeals court agreed that the inmate couldn’t sue the corrections department for the sexual assault, but ruled he could pursue a case alleging that corrections department employees retaliated against him.
Julie Jorgensen, the inmate’s attorney, said she had not yet read the ruling and wouldn’t comment without first speaking to her client. Nebraska Department of Correctional Services spokesman James Foster said the department wouldn’t comment because the case was still in the courts.
Hansen pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of an inmate in May 2012 and was given two years of probation and forced to register as a sex offender for 25 years.
According to the ruling, Hansen approached the inmate in December 2011 at the Omaha Correctional Center, a minimum- and maximum-security facility, “with the proposition to meet in the chapel to engage in sexual activity.” Hansen later proposed meeting in a commons area, because the chapel had security cameras.
The inmate, who was serving time for theft, tried to deflect Hansen’s advances, according to the lawsuit. Hansen then spoke to the inmate about his parole date, which the inmate interpreted as a threat. Hansen had previously said that if the inmate didn’t comply with his sexual requests, he or his friends could lose “good time” credit on their sentences or be placed in segregation, the ruling said.
According to the ruling, the inmate reluctantly agreed to meet with Hansen in the commons area, where Hansen shoved him into a wall, forcibly kissed him and pushed him to his knees before sexually assaulting him. The inmate preserved some of Hansen’s bodily fluids and reported the assault to prison officials.
The inmate alleged in his lawsuit that he was placed in disciplinary segregation for 30 days while prison officials conducted an investigation, giving him limited telephone privileges and no contact with other inmates. Prison guards were instructed not to talk to him, and the inmate was told not to speak to anyone about the sexual assault, according to the ruling.
The inmate said he requested a transfer to another medium-security facility, but was told there was no room anywhere else. He said he was frequently visited by a prison investigator, identified in the ruling as John Doe, who advised him that he would get more jail time for lying and that he was “ruining” Hansen’s life. DNA testing eventually confirmed that the bodily fluids were Hansen’s.
After the investigation, the inmate alleges that he was transferred to a maximum security prison.
According to the lawsuit, the inmate repeatedly asked for counseling services and was eventually given two therapy sessions while incarcerated. The inmate said he continues to suffer from intimacy problems, depression, anxiety and severe emotional distress, but can’t afford to see a therapist more than twice a month.