LEXINGTON, Kentucky – A group of West Virginia attorneys have filed a lawsuit claiming a female federal inmate was raped, sexually assaulted and battered while incarcerated.
The plaintiff, identified only as B.A., filed the complaint April 28 in federal court against the federal government and Officer Christopher Brian Goodwin.
The core group of her attorneys, including L. Dante diTrapano, are from West Virginia and have filed several similar lawsuits in recent years.
diTrapano
“Prison employees raping female inmates is a pervasive problem across the country,” diTrapano told The West Virginia Record. “The Federal Bureau of Prisons knew Officer Goodwin abused his power and control by sexually preying on the very people he is paid to protect and keep safe.
“The egregious and demented conduct visited upon vulnerable female victims in our prison system must stop.”
According to the complaint, B.A. was being held at Federal Medical Center Lexington. In August 2019, she says she was assigned to a work crew refinishing and filing the floors at several buildings at FMC Lexington. That included the Union offices in the administrative building. Goodwin supervised the work crew.
Soon after B.A. began working on the crew, she says Goodwin made frequent sexual comments to her that escalated to specific sexual comments about her, such as asking her if she was trying to show him her “tits” as she bent down to work.
Soon, she says Goodwin’s behavior escalated again to physical sexual assault, such as grabbing B.A. buttocks as she left work. A week later, she says Goodwin grabbed her breast while on an elevator.
On September 13, 2019, B.A. says Goodwin raped her.
“Goodwin pulled his penis out of his pants, and although B.A. tried to leave the office, Goodwin would not let her escape,” the complaint states. “Goodwin grabbed her arm, pulled her into a storage room and forced her to perform oral sex, which she did for a short time.”
After that, B.A. says Goodwin pulled her up, turned her around, pulled her pants down and raped her. She says she saw Goodwin wiping himself off with baby wipes as he left the room.
“Goodwin then directed B.A. to clean herself off and then place the object she used to clean herself in a box of Union t-shirts which was on the storage room floor, telling her the box was going to be thrown in the trash,” the complaint states.
B.A. says she reported the rape in early January 2020 to a Dr. Schuster. That is believed to be Megan Schuster, who was a staff psychologist at the prison.
On January 7, 2020, B.A. was transferred to the Fayette County Detention Center pending an investigation “for her safety.” The next day, she was interviewed about the attack.
On January 17, 2020, B.A. was interviewed by an FBI agent who showed her pictures of the object Goodwin had ordered her to use as a wipe after the attack.
A month later, B.A. was transferred back to FMC Lexington. Goodwin still worked there, but had been reassigned to computer services.
“Goodwin had the ability to read B.A.’s emails and to listen to any phone calls she placed to family,” the complaint states.
B.A. also says she has been the victim of retaliation after reporting the incident, including being told she would need a “PREA stamp,” referring to the Prison Rape Elimination Act.
Soon, B.A. was transferred to Federal Prison Camp Alderson in West Virginia. There, a captain asked her if they were going to “get the same type of problems” out of her there. BOP employees there also called her a “PREA girl.”
B.A. says the transfer to Alderson not only resulted in a much longer drive by her family to see her, making in-person visitation by her children impossible, she says the transfer also caused her to lose her carpentry apprenticeship, which was her source of income.
She says Goodwin violated her Eighth Amendment right to not being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. She also accuses the federal government of assault and battery and negligence under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
B.A. seeks compensatory damages as well as punitive damages from Goodwin. She also seeks attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
She is being represented by diTrapano, Benjamin Adams and Alex McLaughlin of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston; Jay T. McCamic of McCamic Law Firm in Wheeling, Anthony I. Werner of John & Werner Law Offices in Wheeling as well as by David G. Bryant of David Bryant Law in Louisville, Kentucky. The case has been assigned to Judge Danny C. Reeves.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky case number 5:21-cv-00106