Prison Typist Blamed For Inmate Raping Her

A former US prison clerk who was choked unconscious and raped by an inmate has been told by state officials the attack was partly her own fault.

The 24-year-old typist was working at a Pennsylvania prison when she was subjected to an assault lasting nearly half an hour in July 2013. 

The inmate, Omar Best, had been convicted three times previously of sex-related crimes and transferred from another jail for assaulting a female assistant at that facility.

The victim is suing the prison at Rockview in the town of Bellefonte.

The Attorney General faces outcry at the "contributory negligence" defence

Her lawyers say the prison superintendent had relocated the clerks' offices from a secure floor to the cell block.

The federal lawsuit says: "Despite this knowledge, defendants... still allowed Omar Best to have unsupervised access to the offices of female employees."

But legal documents filed under the name of Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane claim "contributory negligence" on the part of the victim.

They read: "Some or all of the damages plaintiff have alleged are in part, or substantially due, to the acts of third parties other than the answering defendants, and/or plaintiff acted in a manner which in whole or in part contributed to the events which led to the damages plaintiff has alleged in her complaint."

The victim's attorney, Clifford Rieders, told the Centre Daily Times newspaper that the state's attempt to blame his client was "troubling and disturbing".  

The Department of Corrections is named in the lawsuit

Best, 37, of Philadelphia, was sentenced on September 12 to life in prison for the rape.

The trial heard testimony that the victim had complained about Best repeatedly entering her office under the pretence of emptying the bin.

The prison's former female superintendent and the victim's former female supervisor are also named in the lawsuit.

The Attorney General's office said in a statement on Wednesday that the legal documents were submitted by her deputy.

She said she had been "saddened to learn that the filing implied that the victim somehow contributed to this crime".

The statement said that contributory negligence is a common defence in litigation cases, and that such a tactic would not necessarily be pursued in this case.

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