Prisoners Dispute Inmate’s Assault Claim

Two state prisoners have challenged a fellow inmate’s claims that he was sexually molested earlier this year by prison guard Roy M. Redifer.

One of the prisoners and his family have been threatened by other inmates in retaliation for stepping forward, leading to safety concerns by the state Department of Correction, court documents show.

‘Ultimately, he had to be transferred to a different facility because of these concerns,” Correction Director James C. Spalding said in a sworn statement in a U.S. District Court suit over the matter.

The prisoners questioning inmate Mark D. Tapp’s allegation against Redifer were interviewed by the Correction Department during an internal investigation by the agency, Spalding said.

One of Tapp’s attorneys, Howard A. Belodoff of Boise, on Monday questioned whether the inmatewitnesses were telling the truth.

Belodoff noted that his client already had been partially vindicated by a federal judge in his civil-rights suit against the guard.

The identities of the two guards were not disclosed by Spalding.

Tapp filed his suit on Aug. 23 against Redifer, Spalding and five other Correction Department officials, claiming the seven defendants allowed the inmate to be sexually molested, or threatened with molestation, as a result of lax employment practices in the state’s prisons agency.

Tapp claims the incidents occurred at a prison south of Boise.