A California law allowing victims of sexual assault by law enforcement officers more time to seek redress in the courts against their assailants has prompted a spate of lawsuits across the state.
“This gives a voice and an opportunity to the most vulnerable to come forward and have an opportunity to be heard and an opportunity to get some sense of justice for being abused,” said James Lewis, an attorney at the law firm Slater Slater Schulman, which is representing the former prisoners. “The ones abusing their power should be held accountable.
One plaintiff alleges a guard raped her on multiple occasions in a utility room, and threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone. Another alleges a corrections officer ordered her to perform oral sex on him in his office and forcefully grabbed her hand and placed it on his genitals, telling her, “I know you want it,” according to the lawsuit.
Terri Hardy, a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, could not comment on the civil litigation. She said the arrest and charges against Rodriguez, also a former guard at the California Institution for Women, followed a CDCR investigation. “CDCR’s PREA policy also provides guidelines for the prevention, detection, response, investigation and tracking of allegations against incarcerated people,” Hardy said.by a statewide coalition of news organizations, including the Southern California News Group, that revealed more than 600 California peace officers had been convicted of a crime within the prior decade. More than 70 of those cases were related to sexual assault, and more than 50 were related to forcible sex offenses.
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