State Prison Guards Face More Scrutiny One Accused Of Repeatedly Raping Female Inmate

The Idaho Department of Correction has launched two more investigations into possible misconduct by state prison guards.

One of the guards, Kelly R. Sanchez, has been accused of repeatedly raping an inmate at the women’s prison in Pocatello. The second guard, Connie L. McPherson, left her job earlier this month after submitting to a polygraph examination.

The purpose of the exam and the reason for her departure remain unclear.

The accusation against Sanchez first surfaced last spring in a $500,000 tort claim filed against the state by an inmate at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center.

The woman says Sanchez forced her to perform oral sex on him seven or eight times between late October and Nov. 16 in a uniform storage room where she worked under Sanchez’s supervision, according to a Pocatello Police Department report. In her tort claim, she said Sanchez “threatened, coerced, and intimidated” her in an effort to keep her from complaining to authorities.

Following an investigation, the Bannock County Prosecutor’s Office declined to bring charges against Sanchez because the woman’s prior criminal history would have made it too easy for her testimony to be discredited, the police and prosecutor’s office said. The Correction Department decided to start its own investigation on April 8.

Three days later, Sanchez told the warden at the women’s prison that he would not cooperate with the inquiry on the advice of his attorney. On April 16, Sanchez was fired from his $21,000-a-year job for failing to abide by an agency rule requiring employees to cooperate in internal investigations, the Correction Department says. The guard then appealed his termination through the state employee grievance system and was reinstated.

Still later, Sanchez submitted to a polygraph examination by Lord & Associates Inc. of Boise. The date of the exam is not given, but it was paid for on Aug. 26. Sanchez has been on unpaid leave since Aug. 24, said Mark Carnopis, a spokesman for the Correction Department.

Carnopis said Sanchez continued to be “the subject of an active investigation by the Attorney General’s Office.”

The subject of the second investigation, McPherson, was given a polygraph examination by the Correction Department on May 23.

Carnopis said Friday, “Any investigations of allegations of misbehavior in this case are protected from disclosure by the attorney-client privilege and the fact it is a personnel matter.”

Until earlier this month, McPherson was a $25,000-a-year guard at the Idaho State Correctional Institution, a medium-security penitentiary at the state prison complex south of Boise.

She resigned Sept. 1, Carnopis said.