New filings in an ongoing lawsuit against officials at the women’s prison in Lusk point to a 2023 federal audit that found surveillance camera blind spots within the facility and an incomplete investigation into staff-on-inmate sexual abuse allegations, among other deficiencies.
In the last five years, three former prison guards at the Wyoming Women’s Center have been convicted and found guilty of sexually assaulting female inmates.
In August, one of those women filed a federal lawsuit that alleges the sexual abuse she experienced was the result of “deliberate indifference to the rights and safety of inmates” by the prison’s staff and leadership.
Filed in Wyoming’s U.S. District Court, the complaint names Joseph Gaul, a former correctional officer, alongside Warden Timothy Lang and Deputy Warden Robert Harty. Five John Does are also listed as defendants, whom the plaintiff could not name but believes were Women’s Center employees.
In 2023, Gaul admitted to inappropriate sexual contact with the plaintiff, Chasity Jacobs. He then pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault and was sentenced to two to five years in prison.
The Wyoming Attorney General’s office is seeking to dismiss Jacobs’ lawsuit, contending that it does not make a plausible claim and was filed outside the statute of limitations.
In the meantime, attorneys for the plaintiff filed an amended complaint on Dec. 1. It names an additional defendant — Rick Catron, the former women’s prison warden — and includes details from a 2023 federal audit.
“Multiple sexual assaults have been investigated internally by [the Wyoming Department of Corrections] rather than immediately referred to outside law enforcement, undermining accountability and potentially concealing the full scope of abuse,” the amended complaint argues. “Investigations are often incomplete, shielded by internal review procedures, and rarely result in systematic reform or staff discipline beyond the individual perpetrator.”
PREA audits
The Prison Rape Elimination Act requires agencies like the Wyoming Department of Corrections to track and report sexual victimization at each of its facilities on an annual basis.
In the last decade, PREA records indicate there have been 11 substantiated instances of a prison guard sexually assaulting a female inmate at the Women’s Center.
Federal law also requires that facilities undergo independent audits every three years to remain eligible for substantial federal funding. The last PREA audit of the Women’s Center was completed in 2023. In July of that year, between the on-site PREA visit in February 2023 and the report’s completion in September 2023, Jacobs says Gaul raped her in a secluded closet, and a week later, sexually assaulted her in a vestibule. He was later convicted of the second incident.
“Although surveillance cameras had been installed throughout the facility, the February 2023 PREA audit identified multiple camera blind spots that posed significant safety risks and allowed areas of the prison to remain unmonitored,” the amended complaint states.
More specifically, “the auditor identified one blind spot in the commissary caged areas,” according to the audit report. “The auditor also observed a door to the boiler room unsecured, causing a blind spot and safety issue.”
The facility was required to take corrective action, which, according to the audit, included providing a memo to staff related to unsecured areas and unsecured doors.
“The memo advised of the importance of securing doors and that failure to do so moving forward would result in disciplinary action, including up to termination,” the audit states.
The facility also “provided six photos of mirrors installed in [the] commissary,” the audit states. “The photos provided confirmation that the blind spots were alleviated.”
The amended lawsuit also points to the audit’s review of sexual abuse and sexual harassment allegations and investigations at the Women’s Center.
“During the 2023 audit, it was discovered that WWC failed to complete an investigation into a staff-on-inmate sexual abuse allegation, requiring corrective action for its failure to conduct or document a complete investigation by PREA standards,” the lawsuit states.
As the audit report details, “a review of nine allegations indicated that one was sexual abuse while the others were consensual sexual activity. The sexual abuse allegation involved staff sexual abuse in addition to numerous other allegations.”
While “the facility investigator completed an investigation into the other allegations,” the audit states, “an investigation into staff sexual misconduct” was not completed because the investigator “did not have the authority to conduct a staff-on-inmate sexual abuse investigation.”
After the investigation was forwarded to “agency investigators,” there was no documentation that it was completed, according to the audit.
The facility was once again required to take corrective action, which included completing the investigation, providing “a process memo to the auditor related to who is responsible for the different allegation types” and providing “a list of sexual abuse allegations during the corrective action period and the corresponding investigative reports.”
Those tasks were completed by Aug. 23, 2023, including the investigation, which “determined the allegation was unsubstantiated.”
The lawsuit
Approximately five months after the on-site portion of the 2023 PREA audit was completed, Gaul, the former guard, assaulted Jacobs, according to her lawsuit.
The first of two assaults took place in a chemical closet, according to the complaint, and the second occurred in another unsupervised area of the prison.
Before he was hired to work at the women’s prison, Gaul was terminated from at least two public-sector jobs in Nebraska due to misconduct toward women, according to the lawsuit.
“During the 2020 PREA audit, the auditor examined all WWC’s self-reported policies and interviewed Defendant Catron who indicated all potential hires undergo background checks and are asked questions about previous terminations,” the lawsuit states. “Despite these representations, the facility continued to employ male officers who engaged in grooming behavior, rule violations, and abuse of inmates.”
The state now has the opportunity to respond to the amended complaint.
The Wyoming Department of Corrections did not respond to WyoFile’s request for comment by publishing time.
“Before he was hired to work at the women’s prison, Gaul was terminated from at least two public-sector jobs in Nebraska due to misconduct toward women, according to the lawsuit.” If this is indeed correct, whomever hired Gaul should be terminated, and any other correctional employees that looked the other way, or drug their feet on following up on the “investigation into staff sexual misconduct”. This kind of “good ole boy” mentality makes my blood boil.
This should be a mandatory 20 year sentence for anyone involved or anyone who has knowledge. Whether consensual, coercion or rape.