Opinion ID: 2516126
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defendants' Policies To Avoid Sexual Misconduct at ECHC

Text: Defendants submitted that, at the time of Cash's rape, policies were in place to prevent such an assault. As Sheriff Gallivan testified at trial, [a] deputy was prohibited from having any type of relationship, intimate relationship with an inmate. A deputy was prohibited from having any physical contact with an inmate unless authorized by law in the case of justifiable use of force or preventing death or serious injury. Trial Tr. at 451. These proscriptions are, in fact, mandated by New York state law, which deems persons in the custody of a state or local correctional facility incapable of consent to sexual conduct with facility employees. N.Y. Penal Law § 130.05(3)(e)-(f). Persons who engage in sexual intercourse with persons incapable of consent are criminally culpable for third-degree rape, see id. § 130.25; persons who engage in any sexual contact with persons incapable of consent are criminally culpable for second degree sexual abuse, see id. § 130.60. Further, ECHC policy required that at the start of a new shift, a deputy of one sex announce his or her presence on a unit housing prisoners of another sex. No such announcement was required, however, when a deputy conducted periodic unannounced inspections of housing units, during which prisoners undressing, showering, or using the toilets might be viewed naked. No County policy prohibited a single deputy of one sex from being alone with a prisoner of another sex. Nor were any monitoring devices, such as surveillance cameras, ever employed to supervise such one-on-one interactions.