Feds: Kansas Women’s Prison Violates Inmates’ Rights
Perhaps the state government should fix the prisons instead of pursuing non existent voter fraud and planned parenthood.
An investigation by the U.S. Justice Department made public Thursday contained findings of rampant, widespread sexual abuse at Topeka Correctional Facility among state employees and inmates in violation of the constitutional rights of women incarcerated at the facility.
The Justice Department’s report to Gov. Sam Brownback declared Kansas Department of Corrections officials “still have not acted” to correct “repeatedly documented” misconduct and “grossly deficient systemic practices” at TCF despite a series of stories in The Topeka Capital-Journal in 2009 and two independent audits in 2010 pointing to employee-on-prisoner and prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse.
“Our investigation has revealed that multiple deficiencies in the operations of the Topeka Correctional Facility have exposed female prisoners to harm and the serious risk of harm,” said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the civil rights division in Washington, D.C.
Federal investigators launched the inquiry in 2011 based on suspicion the array of problems surrounding sexual misconduct at the prison for women in East Topeka hadn’t been corrected by state officials.
“The women at TCF universally fear for their own safety,” the Justice Department report says. “Yet, at the time of our visit, the problems persisted - KDOC and TCF leadership still have failed to adequately address the deficiencies.”
If Kansas officials don’t take remedial action in less than 50 days to address Eighth Amendment violations at the prison, the Justice Department issued notice of intent to file a federal lawsuit to compel reform.