Another Carswell Conviction: Guard found guilty
On Feb. 10, former guard Michael Lawrence Miller became the seventh employee of the federal prison camp for women at Carswell to be convicted of sexual abuse of a prisoner in the last seven years.
A jury in U.S. District Judge John McBryde's court that morning convicted Miller of raping Marilyn Shirley, a prisoner in his custody, in March 2000. The jury of 10 women and two men found him guilty on five counts: aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse of a ward, abusive sexual contact, abusive sexual contact with a ward, and assault. His are the most serious charges to date to be brought against Carswell's sexual predators. According to the U. S. Attorney's office, he is facing a sentence of 11 years to life in prison and a fine as high as $1.25 million.
Prison rights advocates such as Boston law professor Wendy Murphy, who teaches about sexual violence at the New England School of Law, hailed the verdict as a giant step forward on behalf of prison rape victims. "Indeed, the law should now send a message [through sentencing] that an attack by someone in a position of power against a defenseless person such as Ms. Shirley … will result in extreme sanctions," she said.
Shirley has already won a $4 million civil judgment against Miller. But her push for justice hasn't stopped with him. Her attorneys have also filed a $10 million civil rights lawsuit against the federal Bureau of Prisons, on behalf of Shirley and her family, accusing the agency of failing to protect her from sexual violence while she was in custody.
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