A mentally ill inmate at the Multnomah County Detention
Center is suing the county over her alleged sexual assault at the jail
last year by a fellow inmate, as a result of a security lapse.
The alleged victim’s lawsuit, filed in community court on June 25 by
her attorney, Benjamin Haile, raises further concerns about security
and supervision at the jail, in addition to news three weeks ago of the
apparent unprovoked beating of a suspect there by sheriff’s deputies
[“Summary Injustice,” News, July 19].
The plaintiff alleges she was sexually assaulted at 9 am on May 1,
2006, in her cell at the jail’s administrative segregation unit, where
she was being held due to severe mental illness.
The alleged perpetrator of the assault, DeRay Willis, is accused of
taking advantage of poor design in the layout of the unit, which
require sheriff’s deputies to walk around a corner in the unit’s
corridor and briefly out of sight of the cells, in order to lock the
doors of the cells.
While deputies were out of sight, Willis, who was in the
administrative segregation unit for attempting escape, is alleged to
have stuffed his bedclothes with extra blanketing in the shape of his
body, and then snuck out of his cell and into the victim’s cell before
the deputies locked the doors.
Willis was only discovered in the woman’s cell at 11 am, when he
“rang [her] call button to report he was finished and ready to go back
to his cell,” according to the lawsuit. He had remained there for two
hours, during which time five safety checks were supposed to have been
performed, and allegedly admitted having had sexual relations with the
victim.
No charges were ever brought against Willis, although an
investigation into the alleged assault was conducted by the district
attorney’s office. The decision not to press charges was taken because
“the victim told detectives she did not want to prosecute, stating she
had enjoyed having intercourse with the defendant and that she has had
sex on many occasions,” according to the district attorney’s
declination report.
Haile refutes the allegation that his client ever told investigators
she enjoyed having sex with Willis.
The alleged victim is seeking $350,000 in damages, plus attorney
fees, for infringement of her Eighth Amendment right to be free from
cruel and unusual punishment, as a result of alleged inadequate
training and supervision at the jail.
“This incident does not indicate that there is any need for more
security in the general jail population,” says her attorney, Haile.
“Instead, it shows that a vulnerable person was actually exposed to
more danger because she was taken out of the women’s unit and isolated
in the segregation unit. This unit was not safe.”
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office says it cannot comment on
cases pending litigation.