John Jefferson
Left: Michelle Goodman appears to laugh about a January prison attack of an inmate. Right: Goodman in court to face sexual misconduct charges (KOMO).
A youth prison security guard who earlier this year was accused of laughing as she allowed an inmate at the Green Hill School in Washington State to be attacked is now charged with committing recorded sexual misconduct offenses against a 23-year-old man behind bars.
31-year-old Michelle Marie Goodman first made headlines in March when she was arrested and accused of facilitating an attack on an inmate by doing nothing to stop it — even laughing as the January assault unfolded. That very same January, the Chehalis Police Department now alleges, Goodman committed felony sex offenses in a staff bathroom area while on the job.
“Earlier this month Chehalis Detectives were made aware of a possible custodial misconduct at the Greenhill Juvenile Corrections facility involving a female corrections officer and a male inmate,” cops said. “During the detective’s investigation they learned Ms. Goodman was employed by Greenhill as a corrections officer and during that time, had sexual relations with a 23-year-old male inmate.”
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Goodman became the third Greenhill employee arrested in a sexual misconduct case this year, authorities added.
Under Washington law, first-degree custodial sexual misconduct occurs when a corrections employee “has sexual intercourse” with an inmate who “reasonably believes the perpetrator has, the ability to influence the terms, conditions, length, or fact of incarceration or correctional supervision[.]”
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That tracks fairly closely with the allegations made by the inmate’s attorney, that his client felt coerced because Goodman had the power to “punish him and harm him if he rejected her advances,” KOMO reported.
“Consent of the victim is not a defense to a prosecution under this section,” the law also notes.
According to KOMO, Goodman had the vulnerable victim record their illicit prison staffer bathroom sex encounters. Those images allegedly showed her in “compromising positions” and came back to haunt her in a lawsuit, which claimed she “repeatedly wanted to be filmed performing oral sex and having intercourse” and “used her position of power” to make that happen.
Records reviewed by Law&Crime show that Goodman was released from the Lewis County Jail at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
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