Editor’s note: This article contains descriptions of sexual abuse allegations.
A woman at the Oregon Department of Corrections was “sexually tortured” in 2019 and early 2020 by a former corrections officer, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court last week.
Ruben Benavidez, who was most recently a correctional officer at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, coerced inmates into sexual acts – alone or with one another – that he would record on his cellphone.
This is the most recent lawsuit alleging sexual abuse and harassment inside Oregon’s prisons. Benavidez, alone, has been sued at least six times by adults in custody. In March, the U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal charges against a longtime nurse at Oregon’s only women’s prison, alleging the nurse sexually assaulted 12 women while they were incarcerated. Despite legal protections designed to prevent abuse and encourage reporting, people in custody are particularly vulnerable because they’re cut off from the outside world and they can be penalized for not doing as they’re told.
The most recent lawsuit against Benavidez was filed by a Jane Doe, who is transgender. Nationwide, transgender people in jails and prisons are about nine time more likely to experience sexual assault or harassment during their first 12 months in custody compared to inmates who are not transgender, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Ore., May 19, 2021.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
At first, Doe refused Benavidez’s demands, the lawsuit states. Benavidez responded by saying he would hurt Doe with a mallet. He also told other people in custody at the prison that Doe was an informant and made comments about hurting people while inside Doe’s cell.
“Out of fear of Benavidez’ retaliation, and tiring from the constant threats of harm, Ms. Doe began to strip nude for Benavidez, and he would record her on his cell phone,” the lawsuit alleges. “The conduct escalated. Benavidez then forced Ms. Doe to engage in solo sex acts, and then sex acts with another transgender [adult in custody].”
Benavidez recorded Doe on his cell phone, which the lawsuit notes he shouldn’t have had inside the facility.
According to the lawsuit, Doe “suffered rape, humiliation, severe emotional distress, anxiety, PTSD” and a lifelong fear the pictures and videos Benavidez took would show up on the internet.
Doe’s attorney, Lynn Walsh, declined OPB’s interview request.
Oregon Department of Corrections spokesperson Betty Bernt said it’s the agency’s policy to not talk about pending litigation.
Neither the Oregon Department of Justice nor Benavidez’s attorney responded to OPB’s requests for comment.
History of lawsuits
Benavidez has previously been sued by adults in custody over allegations of physical assault and numerous allegations of sexual harassment, court records show.
In early May, the Oregon Department of Justice settled a lawsuit for $140,000 after an adult in custody sued. That lawsuit claims Benavidez “would trick prisoners” into looking at his cell phone. He allegedly showed them “obscene and highly offensive pictures, made sexually graphic and suggestive comments, and created a very hostile working and living environment,” that lawsuit states.
In one of the lawsuits against Benavidez, the prisoner notes that Benavidez showed him “video of nude transgender individuals on his cell phone,” Doe’s lawsuit states. It’s not known if he was showing the videos he took of Doe, “but is it certainly plausible that he did.”
To date, Benavidez has only faced civil litigation. Records reviewed by OPB make no mention of state police or federal investigators.
Years earlier, Department of Corrections officials tried to fire Benavidez, but an arbitrator turned the termination into a 13-day suspension.
The Department of Corrections’ Office of Inspector General Special Investigations Unit has also investigated Benavidez. According to Doe’s lawsuit, between 2013 and 2016 Benavidez faced five investigations related to violations under the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which aims to curb sexual abuse and assault for people in custody.
The Office of Inspector General found the harassment unsubstantiated, meaning they could not say one way or another the harassment occurred.
On Aug. 15, 2020, Benavidez resigned, rather than be fired, following a physical and verbal altercation involving another Department of Corrections employee, according to Doe’s lawsuit.
Doe also names current employees at the Department of Corrections, alleging they knew or should have known about the abuse and did nothing to stop it.
