Washington Prisoner Sues Jail Where Assault Left Him Comatose, DOC Guard Who Then Sexually Abused Him
In July 2024, 37-year-old Nathaniel Woods filed lawsuits against the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) and the Pierce County Jail for an assault he suffered there and sexual abuse by a DOC guard while subsequently hospitalized and comatose.
Woods pleaded guilty in July 2022 to taking a motor vehicle without permission and failing to register as a sex offender—his third conviction on that charge. Woods was required to register as a sex offender for a 2002 conviction as a juvenile, which involved the first-degree rape of a child. A federal lawsuit he later filed said that conviction resulted from “a relationship with another minor” when he was 12 or 13 years old. For the 2022 convictions, he was sentenced to two and one-half years in prison.
On July 28, 2022, Woods was taken into custody at the county jail to await transfer to a DOC prison to serve his sentence. Jail guards, including Nouhoum Sidibe, allegedly knew that some of those held in the jail—Woods’ suit called them “tank bosses”—were checking prisoners’ paperwork to determine any who were sex offenders and then attacking them. But guards did nothing to prevent the attacks, he said.
Woods was the victim of such an attack. Another prisoner, Samuel Elijah Stacy, slammed Woods onto a concrete floor, knocking him unconscious, and then continued to punch and stomp on his head until guards finally intervened. The assault left Woods in a near-vegetative state with a catastrophic brain injury, and he will require full-time care for the rest of his life. Stacy was later convicted by a jury of first-degree assault and sentenced to 26 years in prison.
After the attack, Woods was transported to Tacoma General Hospital and placed under DOC custody because he had already been sentenced. The DOC assigned guards to supervise Woods around the clock while he lay catatonic and handcuffed to a bed in the hospital ICU.
Overnight between September 4 and 5, 2022, a nurse discovered guard Thomas Hawkins lying in bed with Woods. The precise nature of Hawkins’ sexual assault was never determined because Woods was still unconscious, and according to his suit, local police and DOC investigators botched the investigation. However, some type of sexual act occurred because the nurse observed that Woods, despite being unconscious and non-responsive, had an erection. When questioned by police, Hawkins said he was in Woods’ bed because he did not know where else to lie down.
In the first suit, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington in Tacoma, Woods contended that jail staff failed to protect him from the serious assault by fellow detainees despite knowing that Woods’ status as a sex offender put him at risk. In the second suit, filed in the Pierce County Superior Court (also in Tacoma), he accused the DOC guard of sexually assaulting him as he lay unconscious in a hospital bed after the jail beating.
Both lawsuits were brought on behalf of Woods by a court-appointed guardian and conservator, seeking unspecified damages, legal fees and other relief deemed appropriate by the court. Attorney Nate Bingham, who represents Woods in both suits, said that the system failed his client. “It doesn’t matter if Nathaniel had a criminal conviction or not, he needed to be treated humanely and he needed to be protected from harm,” Bingham said.
Both Pierce County and the DOC refused to comment on the cases, citing ongoing litigation. In addition to Bingham and fellow attorney James T. Anderson of Krutch Lindell Bingham Jones, PS in Seattle, Woods is represented by Bothell attorney Daniel E. Libbey. See: Pessanha-Maule v. Pierce Cty., USDC (W.D. Wash.), Case No. 3:24-cv-05601-DGE; and Pessanha-Maule v. State of Wash., Wash. Super. (Pierce Cty.), Case No. 24-2-09677-4.
Additional source: Tacoma News Tribune
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