A whistleblower went public with allegations that the Oklahoma Department of Corrections wasn’t thoroughly investigating sexual abuse allegations. Our reporting found that the Department of Corrections rarely substantiated sexual abuse reports as sexual assault or forwarded cases for criminal prosecution at an Oklahoma women’s prison.
Some women told The Frontier that staff retaliated against them for reporting abuse. The Frontier spoke with Amber Bacon, one of nine women a former prison psychologist claimed were sexually assaulted or harassed. In Oklahoma, unwanted touching by jail or prison staff can lead to felony charges of sexual battery, but authorities did not prosecute a CareerTech instructor she reported for groping her. Bacon was fired from her prison job after reporting the man.
Here are five takeaways from the story:
- Corrections officials investigated at least 32 incidents of sexual abuse or misconduct between prisoners and staff between 2018 and 2022 at Eddie Warrior, according to records released by the agency. In most cases, investigators found inappropriate relationships between prisoners and staff, but no physical contact that could be criminally charged.
- Eddie Warrior administrators didn’t immediately request an investigation when allegations emerged that an assistant warden was in a sexual relationship with a prisoner in 2019, according to testimony in a federal lawsuit. Failing to immediately report sexual abuse allegations violates the Prison Rape Elimination Act.
- The Oklahoma Department of Corrections has never failed a prison rape audit. But experts said facilities can comply with all the standards and have the correct policies and still have rampant sexual abuse.
- Steven Harpe, the executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, told state lawmakers at the 2023 hearing on prison sexual assault that a state-contracted auditor considered Oklahoma one of the top states for meeting federal anti-rape standards. The auditor told The Frontier he never said that and it would be an ethical violation if he did.
- Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act in 2003 to protect people in jails and prisons from sexual abuse. The law created national standards to reduce prison sexual assault. But the only penalty for states that don’t comply is a 5% reduction in any prison-related federal grants.
