Wednesday night at Edgewood College, a panel of guests sponsored by the group Money, Education and Prisons gathered to urge the public to contact their representatives about two bills which, if passed, would make it a felony for prison employees to have sex with an inmate.
Angie Hougas, state organizer for Amnesty International, said Wisconsin is one of only four states that does not have a law of this type. In 1999, a similar bill was introduced but died in committee.
The reason the bill is now under consideration and sponsored by about half the state Assembly and one third of the state Senate is because of Jackie Noyes. Noyes, 25, is an inmate at Taycheedah Correctional Institute and was impregnated by Matthew Emery, 24, a guard in the Mental Health wing. Hougas said Emery was fired and Noyes lost the use of the telephone for a week and was placed in solitary confinement for 360 days.
Lois McNight's daughter, Angela McNight, a mental patient at Taycheedah, also had sexual intercourse with Emery. When she tried to file a complaint against Emery stating that he was having sexual contact with other inmates, she was placed in solitary confinement for 360 days for lying about staff.
In an impassioned plea to the audience, McNight said it is ridiculous to just sit and talk about a bill that makes it illegal for guards to have sex with inmates.
\You cannot work at a senior citizens center and have sex with the patients, you cannot work at Sunburst and have sex with the children, you cannot work at a high school and have sex with students; if you do you're going to jail. Taycheedah is no different than any other place,"" McNight said.
Hougas said there is also a need for transparency in the system.
""Inmates have 18 categories of complaints and not one of them has to do with sexual contact, groping or sexual abuse,"" Hougas said. ""They have no idea how often this happens because the Department of Corrections does not keep records.""
Todd Winstrom, staff attorney for Mental Health Advocacy, said if the Department of Corrections did keep records, the numbers would be staggering. Hougas said there is a need for independent investigation and confidentiality. She also said she fears that retaliation in the form of loss of visits, loss of hygiene products and and other abuses would occur.
""We have to be careful with this bill because the Legislature can just pass it and move on. We need to keep pressing to make sure that does not happen,"" Winstrom added.
