Raped in prison

I spent 8 years 3 months and 15 days in the Texas department of criminal justice system (aka prison). A lot of things happened to me during this time. Some good, some bad, and some horrendously unforgettable. This post is on the latter.

During the majority of my time in the system, I was housed on the Mark W. Stiles unit in (Location:) Beaumont, Tx. On May 19, 2021, I was sexually assaulted. Shortly after this happened (maybe 15 minutes) I was able to get to a correctional officer to report the rape. I was taken straight to medical. Due to a alter mental status of being in shock, I was unable to do very much communication with staff other than the initial report made to security. I didn’t know what to do, think or say.

I spent several years in a bad place in my head. Several years looking for closure from this pain. After long fighting with medical administration, security administration and the general inconvenience of incarceration, I was able to get a copy of my medical records from that night in hopes that it would bring me a little peace. I was wrong.

As I read the detailed records of the nursing staff at that unit, I came to find out that TDCJ staff had tried so hard to act like it hadn’t happened, and tried to prevent discovery of evidence. My report was made at approximately 2200 on 5/19/2021. Due to security trying to intervene with medical investigation, I was not seen at a hospital by a SANE nurse until nearly 0900 the following day (5/20) in the detailed notes taken by a unit level RN, several times security had attempted to persuade medical staff to release me back to my cell without any medical forensic evidence being collected. And once medical made a final decision that I could not go back to housing until I’d been seen by a SANE nurse at the local hospital, security dragged their feet and declared they did not have enough staff to send me out and that I would have to wait until after shift change (0610).

Once the forensic evidence was collected at the hospital, including collection of the perpetrators semen and my bloody boxers, I was provided with a laminated card for tracking my rape kit. When I returned to the Mark W stiles unit, a correctional officer confiscated the card with the information stating it was contraband.

A couple days later, the office of the inspector general interviewed me and found my safety in danger on the unit, and bussed me off the unit.

I had been trying and trying to obtain all the information related to this case, but was constantly road blocked by every person who could put their two nickels worth of say in the matter of me getting any documentation of this incident. I had been able to find out though that the SANE exam came back positive for semen and that there was enough evidence to support the act of rape, but no charges were ever pressed. I had wrote letter after letter to Beaumont county judges, clerks and even lawyers, but never once received a reply.

There definitely was a conspiracy to cover this up by TDCJ officials, but I was never able to do anything about it while incarcerated. Now that I’m free going on 10 months, I want to finish what I started and get the justice I deserve for being sexually assaulted as a inmate in protective custody by a violent general population inmate with a history of sexual assault. The only problem is, is I don’t know who to go to for help with this.

If anyone has any suggestions or words of advice, please share them with me. I will be grateful.

Thank you