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Sexual Predation Rampant At FMC-Carswell; Another Employee Convicted

By Michael Rigby

A pair of semen-stained sweatpants has led to the conviction of former
prison guard Michael Lawrence Miller, making him the seventh employee of
the Federal Medical Center for women in Carswell, Texas, to be convicted of
sexually abusing a prisoner in as many years.

On February 10, 2004 a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of Texas found Miller guilty of sexually abusing Marylin Shirley,
a prisoner at Carswell, in March 2000. Miller was convicted on five counts:
assault, abusive sexual contact with a ward, abusive sexual contact, sexual
abuse of a ward, and aggravated sexual abuse. He could receive anywhere
from 11 years to life in prison and a fine of up to $1.25 million,
according to the U.S. Attorney's office. Sentencing was set for May 2004.

Miller's conviction was aided by Shirley's incredible presence of mind. The
morning after Miller raped her, Shirley wrapped her semen-stained
sweatpants in a plastic bag and taped it to the underside of her locker,
where the incriminating package remained for six months. Then, on the day
of her release from an 18-month sentence for methamphetamine sale, Shirley
informed the warden of the rape and handed over the sweatpants and a pubic
hair to the FBI.

But FBI incompetence almost derailed the case against Miller. For reasons
that were never explained, the FBI lost the pubic hair and waited nearly
three years to perform DNA testing on the semen. At trial a forensic expert
testified that the DNA had significantly degraded due to aging and the fact
that the sweatpants had been wrapped in plastic for so long. In fact,
because of the sample's poor condition, lab technicians could only match
three of the ten DNA markers in the semen to those in saliva swabbed from
Miller's cheek.

Although Miller's attorney argued that the DNA evidence was not conclusive
enough to convict his client, jurors apparently sided with the prosecution
who maintained that the semen indisputably came from a male inside the
prison and that Miller had both the opportunity and at least some of the
matching DNA markers.

The Miller case is just the latest in an ongoing saga of prisoner rape and
sexual abuse by employees at the prison. Since 1997, seven prison
employees--a cook, a counselor, a chaplain, a physician, two guards, and
now Miller--have been convicted of committing sex crimes against female
prisoners at Carswell.

All except Miller claimed the sex was consensual. Those six received
sentences ranging from probation to 14 months in prison. The doctor also
had his medical license revoked [see PLN, May 2004, p. 6]. Notably, none of
these men were charged with the more serious crime of rape even though
federal law does not recognize consensual sex between prisoners and their
captors. Yet another Carswell doctor was fired after being caught in a sex
act with a prisoner patient in his office; however, this doctor was never
criminally charged.

To encourage other prison rape victims, Shirley--who has already won a $4
million civil judgment against Miller and is currently pursuing a $10
million claim against the federal Bureau of Prisons for failing to protect
her--has always allowed her name to be used in published reports.

"This was not an isolated crime [in the prison system]," said Shirley. "If
I speak out in my own name, it may give other women the courage to come
forward and tell their stories of sexual abuse in prison."

Shirley added that "The only way to stop this crime is to expose the
rapists and the sexual predators in our prisons, and bring them to justice.
I hope the Miller trial is just the beginning."

Source: New York Times

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