Oregon Arrests, abuse, lawsuits hit women's prison

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A thousand blind spots gave cover to sexual predators at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, the Oregon women's prison. Former prison landscape manager Paul W. Golden used a shed. One of his victims described how he cornered her, kept watch out the building's only window and fondled her under her prison-issue clothing. Golden was convicted in 2009 of custodial sexual misconduct, but his crimes were not the end of problems at the facility in Wilsonville. The Oregonian reports state authorities have paid $1.2 million to 17 current and former inmates to settle lawsuits stemming from sexual abuse by corrections workers. Crimes against prisoners were tracked to 2002, a year after the prison opened. The settlements cover crimes by Golden and three others before 2008, but authorities believe abuse has continued. Two men were arrested this year and a third is being investigated. The prison covers 108 acres and sex acts, which are illegal even if a prisoner consents, occurred in in cleaning closets, utility tunnels, toolsheds, woodlands and under a fire truck, according to interviews, trial transcripts, depositions, police reports and budget documents. An internal review ordered in June 2009 by prison superintendent Nancy Howton, who led the prison from 2007 until last month, found inadequate security patrols, too few surveillance cameras and rooms without windows. Published: Tue, May 1, 2012