By Trip Jennings
The Albuquerque Journal
SANTA FE, N.M. — More women than previously known say they were raped by a correctional officer at the Camino Nuevo women’s facility in Albuquerque, but they are afraid to come forward, a prisoner advocate says.
One of the alleged victims who has already come forward was strip-searched after being brought to Camino Nuevo from the women’s prison at Grants for a police interview, according to her lawyer. She was forced to walk past a line of correctional officers and stripsearched again before being returned to Grants.
After hearing of that prisoner’s treatment, other female prisoners are fearful of speaking to police about allegations against the corrections officer, both the advocate and a lawyer told the Journal.
Mary Han, a lawyer for some of the alleged victims, said the strip-searching of the woman “was intended to intimidate and humiliate her.”
Angie Vachio of the Women’s Justice Project said Friday that two more women prisoners told her former Correctional Officer Anthony Townes assaulted them at Camino Nuevo.
That’s in addition to the four he has already been accused of assaulting.
“The women feel unsafe in that system, to come forward,” Vachio said.
Townes, who was fired, has been charged with four counts of criminal sexual penetration, kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct. He has not yet entered a plea, according to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department.
State Corrections officials said Friday they have responded to problems at Camino Nuevo and believe the minimum-security prison privately operated by Corrections Corp. of America now is running well.
Corrections spokeswoman Tia Bland said she knew of no more alleged victims having come forward. Also, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department has reported no additional victims, said Detective Amy Dudewicz.
“If Ms. Vachio is aware of other victims, we would like for her to let us know who they are,” Bland said. “We strongly encourage her to contact the proper law enforcement authorities.”
Representatives of CCA, which operates both Camino Nuevo and the New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility at Grants, declined to comment on any of the allegations Friday, saying that it has a zero tolerance policy for employee misconduct.
Vachio is expected to testify before a state legislative committee in Santa Fe on Monday.
Allegations
A former Camino Nuevo employee, Linda Jeffcoat, told the Journal that Corrections Corp. of America employees at Camino Nuevo knew months before the first women came forward that something was wrong.
The allegations involving Camino Nuevo by Vachio, Han and Jeffcoat include:
A corrections officer at Camino Nuevo walked in on Townes as he was assaulting one woman, turned around and walked out and did not report the event.
Months before the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department was called in to investigate the rapes, CCA employees alerted a top official at Camino Nuevo about seeing Townes on camera disappear with inmates into corridors where there were no cameras.
Three of the four inmates who came forward were denied psychological counseling after they cooperated with law enforcement authorities.
Bland was adamant that the state Corrections Department believes no retaliation occurred against inmates who already have come forward.
“I would find it hard to believe that they could have knowledge of something of this magnitude and do nothing about it,” Bland said of CCA staff, which operates Camino Nuevo. “These are such serious allegations that it makes no sense they would not do anything.”
As for the alleged rape victims being denied counseling, Bland said, “I can’t speak directly for CCA, but I would find that hard to believe.”
Townes was put on leave in August. He later was terminated by CCA, a spokesman said Friday in a written response to questions outlining critics’ allegations.
Changing the rules
Since the allegations against Townes surfaced, the state Corrections Department has adopted new rules, including prohibiting staff, male or female, from supervising fewer than three inmates alone.
Female correctional officers are also used whenever possible to conduct security sweeps or inspections of female inmates’ cells, Bland said. Before, it was either a male or female correctional officer, Bland said.
Bland said an internal review might result in a proposal for mounting additional cameras at the Camino Nuevo facility.
Some of the women who accused Townes of raping them said in the criminal complaint that he attacked them in areas where cameras couldn’t capture his actions.
State Corrections Secretary Joe Williams has visited the facility several times to speak with inmates, Bland said.
“The secretary has talked with women there and most of them believe they are treated fairly,” she said.
Although Camino Nuevo is privately operated by CCA, the state Corrections Department oversees its operation, Bland said.
Every privately operated prison - with six of them in New Mexico, including Camino Nuevo - has a state Corrections Department employee stationed there to provide daily monitoring and oversight.
In addition, the agency’s deputy director of adult prisons stops in periodically to see how things are going, Bland said.
Copyright 2007 Albuquerque Journal