by Douglas Ankney

Evidence uncovered by InvestigateWest released in an exposé entitled “Guarded by Predators” revealed rampant sexual abuse of prisoners by staff at three women’s prisons—a condition denied by Idaho Department of Corrections (DOC) Director Bree Derrick.

As previously reported by PLN, the DOC paid former prisoner Jamie Boothe $62,500 to settle her suit alleging she was raped and sexually victimized by former guard Derek Stettler at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center (“Pocatello”) in 2021. [See: PLN, June 2025, p.37.] Stettler was one of those rare exceptions in that after Boothe reported him, he was actually investigated and charged with crimes. However, a month after he was charged with rape and three counts of sexual contact with an adult inmate, the 42-year-old Stettler committed suicide.

Guards’ sexual assaults of prisoners often go unreported. During a year-long investigation, more than two dozen women told InvestigateWest that “guards prey on them with little fear of consequences—and those that speak up are often punished.” One punishment routinely faced by the women who report sexual assaults by staff is confinement in segregation, purportedly “for the victim’s safety.” Disturbingly, “[s]ince 2020, there have been at least 59 documented allegations of staff sexually abusing imprisoned women.” While that number “represents the most thorough accounting of sexual abuse in Idaho women’s prisons to date,” it is “an undercount of the problem.” The figure does not include another 25 women who told InvestigateWest they did not report the sexual abuse they had endured at three state women’s prisons.

Additionally, the documented reports were verified by InvestigateWest via witnesses, former employees, and whistleblowers. The news outlet also reviewed “thousands of pages of court records, DOC reports and investigative files; and listened to hours of interviews conducted by department investigators and law enforcement.” Reporters found:

37 prison workers were accused in the past ten years of sexual misconduct toward women;

The accusations were made by victims, witnesses with direct knowledge of the incidents, or in documented reports held by the DOC or law enforcement;

Of those 37 prison workers, at least 18 were guards who resigned either shortly after the misconduct itself or shortly after the misconduct was reported;

Only eight of the 37 were fired;

Since 2015, only three guards from DOC women’s prisons have been criminally charged with sexual contact with an inmate;

Of those three guards, one was given a prison sentence which he avoided by completing a program of “intensive rehabilitation” provided by the DOC.

Julie Abbate, an attorney who played a lead role in drafting the standards of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) and a former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigator of sexual abuse at women’s prisons said the above findings indicated “a really, really troubled culture” for the approximately 1,300 women suffering the misfortune of incarceration in an DOC facility. “Those numbers are really a lot,” Abbate said. “It indicates a huge problem [because] accused workers typically have abused more than one inmate.” Abbate added that it was “super telling” that 18 workers resigned shortly after the misconduct became known. “Folks don’t tend to resign if there’s not something there.”

InvestigateWest also found that reports of sexual abuse are quickly dismissed by prison officials.For example, Pocatello Warden Janell Clement “signed off on three reports submitted by a staff member describing a guard rumored to be in a relationship with an prisoner, yet none of those reports triggered a formal investigation.” When an investigation was finally undertaken the following year, it “revealed the kitchen guard had raped one inmate and abused or harassed others.”

The DOC refused to answer questions regarding the case and would not permit InvestigateWest to interview Clement. And at the South Boise Women’s Correctional Center, Warden Nick Baird interrupted a staff meeting by playing a recording of a sexually explicit phone call between a prisoner and a former guard. Baird played the recording at least four times, telling food service supervisor Robin Spackman that he “was bored” and that he thought the recording “was funny.” Even though the recording was evidence obtained during an investigation of the guard, prison officials did not refer the case to law enforcement. Instead, the guard was permitted to simply resign and relinquish his officer certification.

And even in those rare instances when the DOC did refer cases of staff sexually abusing prisoners to law enforcement, case files demonstrated shoddy investigations. Detectives routinely ignored leads that reinforced the women’s allegations. In one case, detectives from the Idaho State Police interviewed an accused staff member for only nine minutes. And during that “interview,” the detectives did not ask the accused even one time if he had had sexual contact with the prisoner who had accused him of repeatedly raping her. Instead, the detectives told the guard that they hoped to “go after women filing false reports.” The DOC provided only 24 cases in its initial response to reporters’ requests for all sexual misconduct complaints against workers in women’s prisons for the past five years.

After the reporters pointed out that this number contradicted the DOC’s own count in its annual reports mandated by PREA, the DOC provided additional records that were inaccurate, incomplete, and in violation of the law. The DOC failed to provide all of the case records, stating that some “remained missing.” The DOC’s apparent disdain for PREA standards is unsurprising. While PREA was signed into law in 2003, Idaho did not agree to comply with the law until 2015. At the time, it was one of four states that had rejected PREA compliance.

After InvestiateWest made its findings known to Director Derrick, her response was denial mixed with disbelief. Derrick admitted that the number of allegations of sexual abuse forced on female prisoners by staff “d[id]n’t look good.” But she “disputed” that there “is a culture of letting guards off the hook for sexual abuse and retaliating against inmates who report it.” Derrick said, “I don’t think that’s true. I think it’s painting with a very broad brush.” She added, “I don’t want to dismiss that this could have been several women’s experience. Of course, if that’s the case, we want to do better in that space, in terms of holding our staff accountable, and making sure they pay a price for that, and making sure the women are not in a place where they’re being retaliated against.”

Instead of addressing the facts and numbers presented to her, Derrick’s response implied corrective measures are not forthcoming. Derrick opined that the DOC “has a decent track record” of complying with PREA and successfully passing PREA audits. But InvestigateWest’s review of audits and annual reports found inconsistencies and violations of PREA standards, yet the auditors “passed” the facilities anyway. One glaring failure: the DOC investigates claims of staff sexual abuse despite federal regulations mandating investigations by law enforcement.  

Source: InvestigateWest

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