Connecticut Prison Officals Want Inmates Who Masturbate To Be Labeled As Sex Offenders And Spend 5 More Years In Prison

HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT – Connecticut prison officials are asking for a new law that would label inmates who commit lewd acts in their cells as sex offenders.

Department officials say it’s an ongoing problem at prisons such as the high security Northern Correctional Institution in Somers, where some inmates purposefully masturbate in front of staff, often female guards, counselors or other prison workers.

“If they were on the outside and they did something like this, they would be arrested and held accountable as a sex offender,” said Brian Garnett, a department spokesman. “And frankly, the same thing should hold true on the inside.”

Lisamarie Fontano, president of AFSCME Local 387, which represents prison workers, says about 500 such instances were written up at Northern last year. She said the problem involves a relatively small group of inmates, and has very little to do with sex.

“It’s about power,” she said. “If you can demoralize somebody, and some of the acts that women have described to me are absolutely horrific, then by all means the inmates feel more powerful over them.”

The legislation would make public indecency in a correctional institution a class D felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, a sentence that would be mandated to be tacked on to any current sentence. It also would designate the convict as a sex offender.

The bill would only apply to inmates who are deemed to be targeting staff with their activity, and would not be used when someone inadvertently walks in on an inmate in a private moment, Garnett said.

Garnett said it has proven difficult to charge inmates under current sexual assault statutes for behavior that happens in their cells.

Fontano said that internal discipline hasn’t deterred the behavior, but that inmates may stop if they know they will be labeled as a sex offender when they leave prison.

“This would be something that would be with them for the rest of their lives,” she said. “This isn’t something where you lose commissary privileges within the walls of the facility. Typically, a male prisoner does not want to be labeled as a sex offender.”

The bill has passed out of committee and is awaiting action by the full Legislature, which adjourns on May 9.

The move to pass legislation comes at the same time that the department is removing all pornography, material that contains “pictorial depictions of sexual activity or nudity,” from the prisons. Inmates were given a year to get rid of all their porn and the total ban takes effect in July.

The ban is intended to improve the work environment for prison staffers who might be inadvertently exposed to the material.

Garnett said the two issues are not related, but said both are expected to have a positive impact on the work environment in the prisons

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Indiana Bureau Of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Andy Miller Quits After Exposing Himself, Masturbating, And Asking A Police Officer To Help Him In A Public Bathroom

Andy Miller has resigned as commissioner of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, one day after his arrest at a Downtown public restroom on a charge of public indecency.

Gov. Mitch Daniels said in a statement that “if things are as reported, the law must be respected, but either way this is just an extremely sad situation.”

Daniels named R. Scott Waddell, the BMV’s chief of staff, to succeed Miller.

Miller, a 40-year-old Carmel father of three, was arrested Wednesday after police say he exposed himself, masturbated in front of an undercover officer and asked that officer to touch his genitals in the men’s bathroom at Claypool Court. That Downtown facility has been the site of other public indecency arrests, and is only a short tunnel walk away from the Statehouse and the Indiana Government Center building where Miller worked.

In his statement, Daniels praised Miller’s service.

“Andy Miller has been an exceptional public servant. Indiana farmers, flood victims, motorists and taxpayers in general all have benefited from his hard work and leadership in three important capacities,” Daniels said.

Those include serving as Indiana’s first director of the Department of Agriculture and then as director of the Office of Disaster Recovery before taking over the top job at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in January 2009.

Last week, Daniels stood at Miller’s side as they announced the BMV had won an international award for customer service for cutting wait times at license branches at the same time they were instituting federal-required steps to ensure IDs are secure.

“I also know him to be a devoted father to three children, including one saved from cancer by Riley Children’s Hospital, for which Andy in turn has raised substantial funds in gratitude,” Daniels said.

Daniels appointed Miller to the $115,000-a-year post of BMV commissioner in January 2009 to replace Ron Stiver. With 140 branches statewide, the BMV oversees driver’s licenses and credentials for about 5.6 million Hoosiers and registrations for more than 6.6 million vehicles and watercraft.

A native of DeKalb County and a Purdue University graduate, Miller had served as director of the state Department of Agriculture from 2005 to July 2008.

Before joining state government, he was vice president of research, development and marketing for Weaver Popcorn and held posts at Procter & Gamble, Nabisco and ConAgra.

The charge against Miller is a misdemeanor. He was released from the Marion County Jail about 9 p.m. Wednesday on $150 bond.

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