By Trevor Maxwell
Portland Press Herald
PORTLAND, Maine — Just over a year ago, a former officer at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham was sentenced to four months in jail for having sex with two female inmates.
Another former officer pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and was fined for failing to report his co-worker’s misconduct.
On Tuesday, the two women sued those officers, the Maine Correctional Center, two sergeants and three top-ranking officials in the Maine Department of Corrections.
A lawyer for Nikia Neptune of Indian Island and Leah Estes, who is still incarcerated in the Women’s Center in Windham, filed the complaint in Cumberland County Superior Court. They seek unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
The women allege assault and battery by Bradford Howard of Lyman. Howard pleaded guilty in December 2008 to four counts of gross sexual assault, for having sex twice with Neptune and twice with Estes.
The complaint also accuses Howard and former officer Glen Works of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of the Maine Civil Rights Act.
Also named in the lawsuit are Corrections Commissioner Martin Magnusson, Associate Commissioner Denise Lord and Maine Correctional Center Superintendent Scott Burnheimer.
Lord, the spokeswoman for the department, said she would not comment on pending litigation.
Benjamin Gideon of the Berman & Simmons law firm said his clients deserve to be compensated for the wrongdoing of the officers, and for the system that failed to protect them. Prison officials should not have allowed male officers to oversee the night shift at the Women’s Center, Gideon argues.
''Having male corrections officers exclusively responsible for the supervision of female inmates is cruel and unusual, a form of torture and violates standards of international law,’' Gideon wrote in the 12-page complaint.
In a telephone interview Tuesday, Gideon said that if Maine wants to retain its policy allowing men to supervise female inmates, then the Department of Corrections must take appropriate steps to keep the women safe from sexual misconduct.
''It is our position that when you are a woman and you are sentenced to a term of incarceration, your sentence doesn’t include being taken advantage of and being raped, and the folks at the prison are responsible for that,’' Gideon said. ''This isn’t the first time that this has happened at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham.’'
In 2002, two former officers at the Women’s Center pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual conduct. Both men had sex with inmates. Like Howard and Works, Robert Shepard and Scott Durgin resigned before their criminal cases were resolved.
Under Maine law, it is a crime for anyone in authority at a jail or prison to have sex with a person who is in custody, regardless of the circumstances.
“Guards have control over inmates in their daily lives. They can make their lives miserable, and they can make their lives better,’' said William Stokes, head of the Criminal Division of the state Attorney General’s Office.
Officers dictate which inmates get merits and which ones get punished, Stokes said. They even can influence the amount of time an inmate serves, because inmates get time subtracted from their sentences for good behavior.
''It is the disparity in power. That is what the law is all about,’' Stokes said.
Similar laws apply to other categories of workers, such as teachers, camp administrators and staffers, social workers and psychologists, he said.
Howard, 38, was hired as a corrections officer in Windham in July 2006. The Army sergeant had recently returned to Maine from an 18-month tour of duty in Iraq.
At Howard’s sentencing hearing in January 2009, his lawyer said depression and post-traumatic stress led Howard to make bad decisions as a corrections officer.
According to the lawsuit, Howard and Works were assigned to some overnight shifts at the Women’s Center, which housed about 70 female inmates in early 2008.
Howard admitted to having sex with Neptune in a closet on Feb. 8 and 9, 2008, and with Estes in a different room on Feb. 15 and 22, 2008.
Estes was convicted of felony murder in April 1998. She was with her boyfriend, Leslie Lynds, when he kidnapped Virginia Jackson, 59, outside a Shaw’s supermarket in Scarborough. Lynds beat the woman to death, and the couple stole her car.
He is serving a 45-year sentence. Estes was sentenced to 17 years for her role in the killing.
Neptune, formerly known as Nikia Brown, was convicted of assault and was incarcerated in Windham from Aug. 8, 2007, until Feb. 26, 2008, Gideon said.
Copyright 2010 Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc.