SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) – Its been a little more than a week since a sex scandal at the Lackawanna County prison broke wide open.
On Friday, the first of seven corrections officers arrested by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office went before a judge.
For nearly two hours, corrections officer James Walsh listened to two female inmates testify against him.
The first woman on the stand says Walsh had inappropriate contact with her in late 2006.
The female inmate says questionable contact started when she was granted work release from the Lackawanna County prison.
She claims Walsh came up to her while she was working at the Viewmont Mall and gave her a gift card to Victoria Secret.
One week later, the inmate admitted she improperly visited a bar near the prison one day while out on work release. She told the judge she saw Walsh there but they didn’t interact.
A few days later, the woman testified that she ran into James Walsh back at the mall while she was working. She claims Walsh started talking to her and mentioned that he saw her in the bar.
She testified, “I thought he was going to tell or say something.”
That’s when the inmate says James Walsh asked her if she wanted to go for a ride.
Prosecutors asked the woman, “did you want to go for a ride?”
The inmate responded, “I didn’t. At that point I felt that I was, that he was going to tell!”
The woman said she had sexual contact with Walsh in a vehicle in the mall parking lot. She says the encounter lasted 15 minutes and she didn’t tell anyone for at least five years.
Defense attorney Chris Caputo asked the woman if Walsh threatened her in anyway. She said not physically but replied, “I wouldn’t have seen it as a threat if he hadn’t brought up the activity log,” referencing how she was required to sign in-and-out of prison every time she left work release.
The second female inmate to testify said the inappropriate contact happened behind prison walls.
While behind bars in Scranton in 2000, the second woman said Walsh would escort her to see her attorney.
She says the improper contact started one day in a prison stairwell when Walsh allegedly “turned around and put his tongue in my mouth.”
Just two weeks later, the woman claims Walsh made her touch him sexually.
She says she was rewarded with a pack of cigarettes and a newspaper.
In 2002, the woman claims she again had sexual contact with Walsh. This time it was while she was locked in a cell.
She told the judge, “I got bras and underwears from Victoria Secret and money on my books.”
The next allegation of abuse came in 2004.
The second female inmate claims Walsh was helping her pass notes to another inmate but he eventually got in trouble.
She testified, “He was extremely upset….I felt obligated. It was uncomfortable.”
Under cross-examination from Walsh’s defense attorney, the woman said she had 302 write-ups while behind bars.
He tried to show their relationship was a “quid pro quo” but prosecutors contend Walsh simply used his position of power to dominate the woman.
The second accuser says she tried to blow the whistle on what was happening, testifying, “I began to speak out but people weren’t listening to me!”
James Walsh is currently on paid administrative leave while the allegations work their way through the court system.
He is currently free on bail.
The other six corrections officers arrested are expected to face preliminary hearings next month.
PA Attorney General Josh Shapiro released the following statement following today’s hearing:
“This investigation is ongoing, and we believe there may be other victims or witnesses who may not know how to come forward,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. “You don’t have to be afraid. I’m asking you to call a Special Hotline we’ve set up to hear from you. If you have any information about this long-running culture of sexual assault in the Prison, call us at 570-846-4074. We’ve already heard from some people in positions of power in the county about this culture of abuse. Now, we want to hear from you.”
