SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - Additional lawsuits obtained by WANDÂ accuse three more employees at the Logan Correctional Center of sexual misconduct, with one claiming there is "a widespread practice" of prison officials failing to intervene to stop sexual assaults and harassment.
WAND-TV uncovered in total five employees at the Logan Correctional Center are accused of sexual misconduct with female inmates. Three of those employees are no longer employed by the Illinois Department of Corrections and have been charged with custodial sexual misconduct. However, two employees named in the lawsuits are still employed at the prison and have not been charged.Â
Both lawsuits were filed with the United State District Court for the Central District of Illinois. One, filed in August by a 29-year-old female inmate, claims that in 2016, she used her the phone in her counselor's office to make her weekly, court-allowed phone call to her daughter. She said after one of her phone calls, her counselor "shocked and surprised" her by unexpectedly kissing her. The counselor then allegedly sexually assaulted and harassed the woman over the weeks following after she made the phone calls to her daughter. The woman claims the counselor coerced her into non-consensual sex twice and non-consensual oral sex another two times.
According to the lawsuit, the woman did not initially report this because the counselor implied she would get another year added to her prison sentence if she did, and  this continued into April 2017. It was then, the lawsuit claims, the woman was assigned to a new counselor and she told what happened to a correctional officer. However, she claims she was then involuntarily transferred to Decatur Correctional Center for what she believes was retaliation for saying what happened. She claims the correctional officer knew what happened before she talked to him, but he never did anything about it. She also claims this caused her severe emotional distress and cost her the opportunity to finish a cosmetology program at the Logan Correctional Center, which she hoped to use to get a job after her prison sentence was completed.
An Illinois database shows the counselor named in the lawsuit is still employed at the Logan Correctional Center as of Sept. 14. As far as records show, this employee has not been charged.Â
The other lawsuit, filed in November 2017 by another female inmate, claims two correctional officers at the Logan Correctional Center engaged her in non-consensual sex acts in December 2015, just weeks after she entered the prison. The woman claims each officer did this with her in a laundry room, and that other correctional officers knew what was going on, but did nothing. According to the lawsuit, each officer instructed the woman to undress in her cell while they watched.Â
When she tried to report this, the woman says she was forced by investigators to sign a statement she would not discuss the investigation. She also says she was placed in segregation, with no opportunity to challenge her confinement. She was then sent to Decatur Correctional Center in January 2016, where she was allegedly disciplined by officials there for talking about the case.
One of the Logan Correctional Center officers named in the lawsuit, Erik Kohlrus, was arrested and charged with custodial sexual misconduct in May. As previously reported by WAND, that is the same charge now-former Logan Correctional Center employees Jeffrey Dozier and Milo Ziemer also face.
According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, Kohrlus' employment ended on December 30, 2015. That is the same month when the actions described in the lawsuit allegedly happened. An Illinois database shows the other officer accused in the lawsuit was still employed as of Sept. 14.
When asked about these lawsuits, the Illinois Department of Corrections said it cannot comment on pending litigation.
