Los Angeles Sexual Assault Lawyer Blog

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has made a decisive ruling with regard to romantic relationships between prisoners and guards.

Los Angeles Sexual Assault Lawyers had been closely watching the case, although it involved an Idaho prisoner. The rulings of the federal 9th Circuit court are applicable to California and several other Western states.

The question at hand was whether a prisoner had the right to file a civil sexual harassment lawsuit against a guard with whom he or she had previously been romantically involved.

The appellate court in a 3-0 ruling determined that the "enormous" imbalance of power between a prisoner and his or her keeper is such that any sexual relationship calls into question the issue of consent. In fact, it becomes incredibly difficult to discern between consent and coercion in such cases.

Therefore, the court ruled that any romantic or sexual relationship between guards and prisoners must automatically be viewed as harassment, unless proven otherwise. Furthermore, the court determined that such a relationship, even if consensual, should be viewed similar to the way we view sexual relationships between adults and minors. There is the presumption, and indeed in some cases the mandatory application, of guilt upon the party with the power in the relationship, regardless of whether the other person willfully submitted to sexual contact or sexual conduct.

Consequently, the court ruled the inmate can proceed with the case. He had alleged that a female guard groped him in a sexual manner when he attempted to break up with her. They reportedly had a romantic, but not sexual, relationship. She reportedly also subjected him to aggressive and sexual pat-downs. A district court had earlier ruled that the two incidents in which the guard touched the prisoner were consensual because the romantic relationship between the two had not clearly ended.

This is an important ruling because we know that sexual abuse within prisons is a major problem. Some take the view that it is what prisoners deserve. However, no U.S. court would sanction the sexual abuse of a prisoner as punishment for some other crime.

There are approximately 2.3 million Americans who are currently incarcerated, with California housing the most - about 175, 000. About 7 percent of those are female, though as this case shows, harassment is not solely a male crime.

A recent report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics indicates that about 4.5 percent of state and federal prisoners reported being sexually victimized within the last year. That is about 1 in every 20. We are encouraged that the appellate court has taken a hard line in addressing the issue.

Cases in which someone uses their position of power are commonplace and may involve either sexual harassment or a criminal sex offense. Prison guards, police officers, probation officers, immigration agents, teachers and other adults in a position of authority can face additional consequences when found guilty of using such a position to take sexual advantage of a subordinate.