Former New Mexico Guard Convicted of Sexually Assaulting Prisoner, Suit Filed
A month after a former guard pleaded guilty to sexually abusing her, a prisoner at Western New Mexico Corrections Facility (WNMCF) filed suit against the state Corrections Department on July 27, 2023, claiming she was also threatened with retaliation to keep her from reporting the attack. The prisoner, identified as “Jane Doe,” lodged additional retaliation complaints against co-workers of the now-fired guard, Dale Clemons.
As PLN reported, Clemons, 27, cut a deal with prosecutors to drop two of his counts of felony criminal sexual penetration. He pleaded guilty on June 12, 2023, and was sentenced to three years of supervised probation in 13th Judicial District Court. [See: PLN, Oct. 2023, p.63.]
In her civil suit, filed in 2nd Judicial District Court in Bernalillo County, “Doe” recalled that Clemons’ threats initially succeeded in keeping her silent. But when State Police investigated, she admitted that Clemons attacked her three times in October 2022, out of view of surveillance cameras in a prison “control office.” He also “rewarded” her with contraband cigarettes after the assaults, she said. Clemons then admitted that he “formed a relationship” with her and smuggled contraband to her, in a confession signed on his last day of work on October 20, 2022.
The suit claims that Clemons violated Doe’s civil rights with the assaults and retaliatory threats, and that other guards have also retaliated against her—she is still incarcerated at WNMCF—serving meals at abnormal times and keeping her from the prison’s outdoor recreation areas. She is represented by attorneys with Hall Monagle Huffman & Wallace in Albuquerque. One, Levi Monagle, said he and his firm were “believers in sunshine being the best disinfectant.” See: Doe v. Clemons, N.M. 2nd Jud. Dist. (Bernalillo Cty.), Case No. D-202-CV-2023-05810.
Additional sources: Albuquerque Journal, KRQE
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Related legal case
Doe v. Clemons
| Cite | N.M. 2nd Jud. Dist. (Bernalillo Cty.), Case No. D-202-CV-2023-05810 |
|---|---|
| Level | State Trial Court |