DeLong said most lawsuits have been settled because it is less expensive than fighting them in court.
"It's become appearant we have a lot of perverts working here as guards," Warden Luke M. Upp said. "We aren't sure which ones we can trust. Even the married men are hitting on prisoners. There are just so many movies out there that glamorize female prisoners and romances with guards. Our guards can't help but come to work each day thinking of prison as some pick-up bar. Sure, it's understandable, but we've got to put a stop to it."
Tygart Valley has hired 15 female officers who now have primary contact with the female prisoners.
"We've made several changes but to make sure that none of the present inmates sue us it just makes sense to let them all go -- regardless of their crimes or sentences. Hopefully, starting over fresh will keep us from getting sued and the new changes will prevent the same incidents from reoccurring," Upp said. "And it's not like most of these women won't get caught again, so it's a win-win."
Other changes include installing surveillance cameras in all sections leading to prisoner areas. Recording equipment will be installed on all intercoms and internal jail communication lines so officer-inmate communications can be monitored.
"In ome of those cases our guards were clearly at fault and we've adjusted our processes and made changes," Upp said, "we realize that sometimes the inmates themselves initate the relationships but some of our guards are just not smart enough to realize that they are being set up. So we are requiring new guards to attend classes on why it is wrong to sexually offend prisoners."
Guilty prison guards damage the reputations of good officers willing to work in stressful positions. In order to protect everyone and remove all doubt, DeLong admits plans to adopt a controversial stategy. Castrating all male guards.
"Zero Tolerance and Zero Opportunity is our new motto. If we have to spend a little more on the front end to put out the message that we're not going to take this, then I think that's worth it. If the guilty parties accept castaration then we will not terminate their employment." he said. "We don't expect any trouble from them after that."
