TALLAHASSEE, Florida – Another federal prison inmate says she was brutally raped shortly after learning of her brother’s death and endured other forms of sexual abuse from an officer who previously had been accused of the same actions at the same prison.
The woman, identified only as J.P., filed her complaint June 16 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida against the federal government, Officer Jimmy Highsmith, Warden T.A. Jones, Warden Craig Coil, Special Investigations Services Officer Ronald Proffitt, Officer Geoffrey Brown, Officer Manuel Pulido and Nakamoto Group Inc.
The case is similar to another lawsuit filed last month by a Federal Correctional Institute Tallahassee inmate against the same defendants.
diTrapano
“Prison employees raping female inmates is a pervasive problem across the country,” L. Dante diTrapano, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiff, told The West Virginia Record. “The JP case, which is the second lawsuit we have filed in Florida against the same defendants, involves a perpetrator that the government paid a settlement for in a prior rape case and then placed him back in the same prison where he raped again.
“The facts of this case are outrageous. Our client was escorted by Officer Highsmith to a private room to call her mom having just learned of her brother’s death. Highsmith raped her immediately following her call which conduct is horrifying, reprehensible, deplorable and needs stopped.”
DiTrapano, who works for the law firm of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston, has filed similar cases regarding federal prisons in West Virginia.
The 39-page complaint details Highsmith’s history of sexual abuse against prisoners dating back to at least 2014, and it also alleges Nakamoto failed to live up to its contract to audit the Bureau of Prisons’ Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).
According to the complaint, Highsmith was hired by the BOP in 2007. He transferred to Federal Correctional Institute Tallahassee in 2010.
In 2014, Highsmith was accused of sexually assaulting at least one inmate at FCI Tallahassee. After an investigation, officials said he “likely sexually abused inmates” and that his denials “were not credible” and were “inconsistent.” Officials, including Warden Jones, were aware of the allegations against Highsmith, “yet she did not seek to have Highsmith removed.”
Jones decided Highsmith’s punishment would be a 10-day suspension. One of the women, identified as T.D., filed a complaint in federal court in January 2017 against the federal government, Highsmith and others alleging she had been sexually assaulted by Highsmith. The case was settled in February 2018 “for a considerable monetary amount.”
In June 2018, Hightower raped another inmate, according to the complaint. That woman was treated in July 2018 for injuries resulting from being anally raped by Highsmith, the complaint states.
In late 2016, J.P. was admitted to FCI Tallahassee following a drug offense. By early 2018, “Highsmith began a campaign of sexualized harassment against J.P.”
“This pattern of conduct included Highsmith’s paying an inordinate number of visits to her living area, paying extra attention to her and unnecessarily getting physically close to her,” the complaint states. “This pattern of sexual harassment escalated to incidents of sexual abuse against J.P.”
In May 2018, J.P. says Highsmith demanded she expose her breasts and genitals to him. She refused, but she says the incident shocked her and caused her to live in fear of further sexual abuse and sexual assault by Highsmith. This incident occurred in front of other inmates in the open housing area.
In June 2018, J.P. says she was taken to the guard’s office to place a phone call to her mother concerning her brother’s recent death. After J.P. placed the short call to her mother, Highsmith told her, “You know you have to pay for that call.”
Then, she says he walked toward her and demanded she put her hands on the desk. He physically turned her away from him and pushed her toward the desk before he pulled down her pants and anally raped her.
“Highsmith dismissed her, telling her to ‘wipe’ and to ‘go on about (her) business,’” the complaint states. J.P. says the rape caused her “unspeakable physical pain,” but she says she kept it to herself and withdrew from social contact with other inmates and from self-help programs. She says she also feared retaliation by Highsmith and other inmates.
She says she made a formal request to be transferred to another BOP facility, but could not bring herself to give the reason.
On July 14, 2018, J.P. finally told Lt. King she had been raped by Highsmith. King encouraged her to formally report it, but she said she still feared retaliation. But she agreed to go to the emergency room with King and another guard. After her examination, J.P. was returned to the facility but wasn’t placed in the protective segregated housing unit as required by BOP policy.
In the following days, J.P. says she told a fellow inmate about the ER visit. Another inmate identified as K.L. overheard that and began intimidating J.P.
J.P. says she made a formal complaint about K.L. to Brown, but she says he took no steps to investigate the claim. She says he told her that if K.L. did attack her, “may the best woman win.”
J.P. says she was attacked the following day by K.L. During the ensuing disciplinary hearing, J.P. says she told the presiding officer she was attacked and believed the attack had a connection to K.L. overhearing the conversation about the rape. But she says the officer took no steps to report this as a possible incident of retaliation as required by BOP policy. Instead, she was placed in the segregated housing unit for 20 days and lost 27 days of good time she had accrued against her sentence and lost her place in the drug counseling program.
After her release from the segregated housing unit, J.P. says she was a victim of retaliation by staff members who blamed her for disciplinary infractions she did not commit. Also, she says her friend she told about the rape and ER visit was written up for vocally accusing Highsmith of sexually abusive conduct toward an inmate.
After she was released from the segregated housing unit, J.P. says she learned Highsmith still was working there. She filed a request to be transferred anywhere else, but it was denied. She says a lieutenant told her to “keep the rape to herself.” Then, she was placed in the segregated housing unit again “pending an SIS investigation.” On Oct. 17, 2018, J.P. was released from the segregated housing unit.
Highsmith continued to work at FCI Tallahassee and continued to sexually assault female inmates until he was transferred to another BOP facility. At least one of those women also filed a federal lawsuit against the federal government, Highsmith and others.
J.P. accuses Highsmith of sexual abuse, battery and sexual assault. She accuses Jones, Coil, Proffitt, Brown and Pulido of failure to intervene and deliberate indifference. She accuses the federal government of negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She accuses Nakamoto of negligence and breach of contract.
She seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
She is being represented by diTrapano, Benjamin Adams and Alex McLaughlin with Calwell Luce diTrapano; Jay T. McCamic of McCamic Law Firm in Wheeling; Anthony I. Werner of John & Werner Law Offices in Wheeling; and Ryan J. Andrews of The Andrews Law Firm in Tallahassee.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida case number 4:20-cv-00317