Almost six months after a former Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail guard was sentenced to 8 months behind bars in the sexual assaults of two inmates, three former inmates at the jail have filed lawsuits against the jail, its former administrator and the guard.
In November, former VPRJ correctional officer Henry Thomas Rhim, 55, of Newport News, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with 11 years and four months suspended after he was convicted of sexual battery and carnal knowledge of two inmates, according to filings in Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court.
Now his victims are seeking financial damages in a federal lawsuit because of the sexual assaults they endured. The parties named in the suits include the jail, its former superintendent John Kuplinski, the Poquoson City Manager J. Randall Wheeler and Rhim. Wheeler is the vice-chairman on the jail authority’s board of directors.
Two of the victims were part of the criminal case against Rhim. Another woman has stepped forward and said she, too, was sexually assaulted, according to filings in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia in Newport News.
All three of the women were incarcerated at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail for some period of time between December 2016 to December 2017, according to the suits.
The women involved in the case are not named, as they are victims or alleged victims of sexual violence.
In each lawsuit, the victims detail how Rhim sexually molested them in a laundry room at the jail. Rhim also ordered the inmates to sexually touch themselves as he watched. The incidents occurred as Rhim directly supervised them without another correctional officer present.
All three of the lawsuits, filed between Dec. 12 and April 16, allege the jail did not take adequate measures to keep them safe from sexual violence at the hands of correctional officers.
“There is a pattern … at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail of sexual debauchery,” one suit said. “Using inmates for sexual gratification by the guards and allowing sexual conduct between inmates oftentimes for the (voyeuristic) interest of the guards who watched.”
The three women seek a total of $10.1 million in damages and at least $1 million in punitive damages, according to the suits.
Virginia Beach-based attorney Robert J. Haddad, who represents two of the women, was not immediately available for comment. Wheeler declined to comment other than to say he had notified the jail and its attorney that he had been served. Kuplinski was not immediately available for comment.
Jail superintendent Tony Pham said he couldn’t speak about the past actions of the jail’s administration, however, he said he has strived to rigorously investigate claims of abuse put forward by inmates and never let similar incidents occur again.
After a series of training courses on “fraternization” for the correctional officers at the jail, Pham instituted a daily review of policies that protect both guards and inmates.
Pham also created a stand-alone internal investigations unit that reports directly to him. The investigators include Lt. Ronald Roth, Lt. Robert Sodorsky and Sgt. Marcos Tomala.
“Their roles were to aggressively review all allegations of misconduct by both inmate and officer,” Pham said.
Further, Pham said he has instituted stronger segregation between male and female inmates and guards. For example, male officers do not supervise female inmates unless another female officer is present at all times.
When a female inmate needs to move through the hallways, no male inmate is allowed to move through the hallways, Pham said.
He said he hopes to change the culture to keep inmates and guards safe and accountable.
When a crime occurs, Pham, a former county prosecutor, said he sends the case files to the Williamsburg-James City County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office or the James City County Police Department for further investigation and prosecution.
Jerry Denton III represents one of the alleged victims in the case. He said it’s not the first time he’s brought a case against the jail, and he doesn’t think it’ll be the last.
“It’s a prevalent problem is what I’m trying to say, this is not a freak occurrence,” Denton said. “This place has a long history of these sort of things.”
