By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The Justice Department has reached an agreement with the state of Alabama to undergo monitoring and serious reforms following years of complaints about female inmates being sexually assaulted by corrections staff, the Washington Post reports.
An investigation by the Justice Department found that female inmates lived in a “toxic environment” at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Ala., where they have been raped and sodomized.
Prison officials even organized a “strip show” with female prisoners and watched the women use the toilet
Women who complained of the abuse were punished, according to the Justice Department
“Prisoners are entitled to be safe from sexual predation by staff, and to live in an environment free from sexual assault, sexual harassment and the constant fear of these abuses,” said Vanita Gupta, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
The agreement requires the prison to install a “state-of-the-art camera system,” train staff and implement a program to track and analyze complaints.
