This April 13th, 2022, Department of Corrections officer Christopher Wendover sexually assaulted Angela Jackson, in solitary confinement, groping her breasts and vaginal area while she was in handcuffs, and threatening her with violence not to tell. Another male guard was present, and while he didn’t directly intervene he did press the panic button, which ended the assault. Angela Jackson reported the information to the people at Shakopee prison and the police. The entire incident should be captured on prison video.
Listen to her testimony on this incident here:
1.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FCOBChvurMe47jxOjTdHh678lnofQVnP/view?usp=sharing2.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zIq1ipQbEnhVVfbhTsLsJ8YeZiAO9Hqd/view?usp=sharingThe Department of Corrections has closed this investigation without firing the officer, and until another incarcerated person complained, had officer Wendover staring at Mrs. Jackson every day in the cafeteria. Shakopee Prison has a history of sexual and other abuse, particularly after adding male staff in 1992, including lack of accountability for white officers. Just a few years ago, Sergeant Boegeman was fired from Shakopee for similar misconduct but was rehired in arbitration, so he continues to work at the facility, as well as others implicated. This may be a union contract issue. Nor are we just talking two incidents, see a very incomplete history of such abuse here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PMYP8thq54MRKJyMwMSqayAV7Reg2iDMW6zcw9_La-w/edit?usp=sharingShakopee prison also has bought but refuses to use an airport style body scanner to prevent the regular strip searching of incarcerated people, a procedure many consider sexual assault. Note that a majority of incarcerated women are survivors of sexual violence. This is the case for Mrs Jackson who is a multiple survivor of sexual assault.
These are also Department of Corrections wide issues, from failing to stop sexual assault or violence, to holding the mentally ill to solitary confinement, to policy 301.083 which allows the use of segregation for “overflow”, to holding people who are suicidal or a 'threat' naked in "wet cells". Please add your name to this petition to say “this must change!”. Yes to supporting Angela Jackson getting justice. No more allowing of sexual assault, whether it’s by guards acting like criminals or the DOC creating policies that are criminal. No more abusing of the mentally ill. If you can’t cage people with care you need another way. One clear way is through expanding work release:
tinyurl.com/workreleaseinfo, another through using medical release to release the mentally ill.
Then **Angela Jackson needs your help** via phone call and email --
1. Call the Scott County Attorney 952-496-8240 and tell them you believe it's important that they prosecute officer Christopher Wendover, Police Case Number 22007875.
2. Call or email the Commissioner of Corrections
paul.schnell@state.mn.us 651-361-7226 and tell him to fire officer Wendover and ensure Angela Jackson is not retaliated against in her job, treatment, and work release placement. Also:
a) Ask him what he will do to end this pattern of abuse against vulnerable adults in his care
b) Tell him to start using the body scanner at Shakopee Prison to prevent strip searches which many consider to be sexual assaults, and to invest in them at all facilities
c) Tell him to medically release the mentally ill instead of sending them to solitary confinement
3. Finally, call the Attorney General’s office and ask them to investigate the pattern of abuse of in the Department of Corrections and Shakopee Prison in particular: 651-296-3353 -- they can contact us at
tc.iwoc@gmail.com.
WANT HELP WITH A CALL/EMAIL SCRIPT go to:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AzNcRDuMMa3V95ZjKPYf6vUGpdR_DfFqMtcG8MTwi_Y/edit?usp=sharingReferences:
https://policy.doc.mn.gov/DocPolicy/PolicyDoc.aspx?name=301.083.pdfhttps://www.swnewsmedia.com/shakopee_valley_news/news/shakopee-womens-prison-officer-fired-last-year-is-reinstated/article_fdb88f40-16d2-5485-a760-b27f7895f858.html