In a recent article by The Houston Chronicle, it was reported that Texas leads the nation in prison sex abuse, having five of the 10 U.S. facilities with the highest rates of sex abuse. Included in the five facilities in Texas is the Mountain View Unit near Gatesville, which houses female inmates. An inmate, Garrett Cunningham, at the Luther Unit in Navasota in 2000 said he was sexually assaulted by a prison guard twice his size, but he said nothing until five years later because he was threatened to be sent to a harsher unit.
“Many men and women in Texas experience sexual abuse at the hands of officer and other prisoners,” Cunningham said. “Their pleas for help go unanswered by administrators and staff.”
Just last year, a prison guard admitted to fondling immigrant women detained in the facilities where he worked. Robert Luis Loya attacked three women in the spring of 2008 at the Port Isabel Detention Center operated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He said he snuck into the isolation rooms in which the women were held and ordered them to strip down so that he could fondle them. Often times he told them he was checking on them for a doctor and never turned on the lights. Loya was sentenced to three years in prison and five years of supervised release.
Although Loya will serve for his crimes, many other corrections officers do not, as they are often not caught. However, actions are being put into effect to help prevent Texas’ high rate of sexual abuse. Attorney General Eric Holder plans to enact the ” use of video to prevent sex abuse; housing changes and transfers for victims; sanctions for any inmates or staffers engaging in abuse and written agreements with outside law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to investigate allegations of sex abuse.”
