By Aviva Shen
Think Progress
TERREBONNE PARISH — A Louisiana parish is trying to get out of paying a 14-year-old who was repeatedly raped by her prison guard, with lawyers arguing last week that the girl wanted the sex.
The guard, Angelo Vickers, is serving a 7-year sentence after pleading guilty to molestation of a juvenile. The woman, known anonymously as Mary Doe, is now an emotionally traumatized 20-year-old. Mary Doe sued the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government as well as her attacker, alleging the parish officials should have protected her from Vickers.
Rather than assume liability or try to shift the scrutiny solely on the guard, the parish’s defense strategy is simply to blame the victim. Court papers claim, “Vickers could not have engaged in sexual relations within the walls of the detention center with [the victim] without cooperation from her. Vickers did not use force, violence or intimidation when engaging in sexual relations.”
“These girls in the detention center are not Little Miss Muffin,” one official told the Tri-Parish Times.
Of course, the defense is flagrantly at odds with Louisiana law, which states no one under 17 years old can consent to sex. Moreover, the obvious power a guard wields over a prisoner makes any sexual relationship suspect, even without proof of physical force or overt threats.
The Terrebonne juvenile prison was exposed by a Department of Justice investigation in 2010 for arbitrarily putting children in isolation cells and leaving guards unsupervised. Several staffers were fired and even indicted for exchanging candy, fruit, time on the telephone, and other favors in return for sex with the underage inmates.
Full story: Prison Attorneys Claim 14-Year-Old Inmate Wanted To Get Raped By Her 40-Year-Old Prison Guard