PENNSYLVANIA RECORD

A Pa. woman is suing a corrections officer over claims that the guard forced her to have

sex with him in the prison basement.

Beverly Minton, of Graterford, Pa., has filed a federal complaint against Cpl. Dale S. Guyer, a corrections officer at the Chester County Prison, which alleges that the defendant forced the plaintiff to have “unwanted” sexual relations with him in the lower level of the Chester County Prison on Oct. 30, 2010.

The lawsuit, which was filed at the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia on Oct. 31 by attorney Alan Denenberg, says that following the incident, Guyer was charged with, and convicted of Institutional Sexual Assault and fired from his position with the prison system.

Aside from Guyer, the County of Chester and the prison’s warden, D. Edward McFadden, are named as additional defendants in the civil action.

The complaint alleges that McFadden and the county knew that Guyer had engaged in similar conduct with other female pretrial detainees and/or inmates at Chester County Prison and was “deliberately indifferent” to the risk that Guyer posed to the plaintiff and others.

“It is believed and therefore averred that there are other incidences of Institutional Sexual Assault at Chester County Prison by male correctional officers and that Defendant Warden McFadden and/or Chester County knew about these other incidences but failed to adequately train and supervise its male correctional officers regarding the sexual assault of female pretrial detainees/inmates,” the lawsuit states.

The suit goes on to state that Guyer’s sexual assault on Minton was “conscience shocking,” deliberately indifferent to the plaintiff’s rights to bodily integrity, and was intentional, malicious and wanton conduct constituting cruel and unusual conduct under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Minton seeks compensatory and punitive damages in excess of $150,000, plus interest, costs, attorney’s fees and other appropriate relief.

 

The federal case number is 2:12-cv-06162-WY.