By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – New Hampshire Department of Corrections administrators kept a corrections officer accused of assaulting multiple inmates on duty while she was under investigation, according to a DOC insider with knowledge of the department.
Deborah Steele is accused of invasion of privacy and sexually harassing and assaulting 10 women housed at the state’s Shea Farm Transitional Housing Unit in new lawsuits filed in Merrimack Superior Court. In every case, the women say their complaints about Steele’s assaults were ignored by DOC staff and some records destroyed.
The women are all going by Jane Doe in the lawsuits to protect their identities. Shea Farm, located in Concord, is a facility to help adult female inmates close to release prepare to reenter society.
Steele started with the DOC in 1996 and spent most of her career at Shea Farm. Some of the accusations go back years, to the early to mid-2000s. It was not until one of the women pushed a formal complaint in 2022 that DOC staff took action, according to the lawsuits.
The March 2022 complaint from one inmate triggered a Prison Rape Elimination Act (“PREA”) investigation into Steele, according to the lawsuit. But, the result of that investigation is a mystery as records are missing from the inmate’s file, according to attorney Neil Nicholson.
The DOC insider told InDepthNH.org the administration kept Steele on the job during the PREA investigation, but moved her to a men’s facility. A DOC public information representative declined to discuss Steele’s duty assignments, but confirmed she is still employed at the department. Steele is currently on leave.
Inmate complaints against staff are not uncommon in prison, the insider told InDepthNH.org. Some inmates use the complaint system to retaliate against staff, the insider said, and it is generally accepted that staffers under investigation remain employed pending the outcome.
The DOC’s public information representative claimed the department takes sexual assault allegations seriously.
“All allegations of misconduct are taken with the seriousness that they deserve and are thoroughly investigated by a highly trained team of investigators. When warranted, swift action is taken by the department to address all founded matters of misconduct, including but not limited to sexual abuse, battery, and harassment, and is done in consultation with the NH Department of Justice,” the DOC public information representative said in an email.
One complaint alleged that Steele performed numerous body pat searches sometimes requiring the woman to be naked instead of just wearing underwear and conducted searches between her thighs unlike how other officers conducted the searches.
Another female inmate complained that Steele frequently used the palm and front of her hands and would cup the woman’s breasts in her hands and lift up her breasts during searches.
“No other corrections officers at Shea Farm conducted body pat searches of Plaintiff’s upper-mid section using the same method as Officer Steele,” the complaint said.
Another complaint said Steele conducted roll call while the woman was showering and the woman exposed her face to Steele, but the officer required her to fully exit the shower and expose her nude body.
The lawsuits paint a troubling picture. Nicholson states in the lawsuit he began asking for documentation in October of 2023, seeking copies of all Jane Doe inmates’ files including grievances and complaints. He also sought the PREA report concerning the one Jane Doe whose complaint wasn’t ignored.
“On December 20, 2023, undersigned counsel received the Inmate’s file, but multiple documents were missing from the file. On the same day, undersigned counsel inquired with the DOC via email about the missing documentation, but they refused to provide any PREA or incident reports involving the inmate,” Nicholson states.
Nicholson did not respond to a request for comment.
The missing reports and ignored complaints alleged in the Jane Doe lawsuits are similar to the allegations that Department of Health and Human Services administrators ignored and covered up abuse complaints about children incarcerated at the Sununu Youth Services Center, then called YDC, in Manchester.
This year, a jury awarded former YDC resident David Meehan $38 million after finding the state Department of Health and Human Services and YDC administrators liable for the abuse he suffered as a minor in the 1990s. The state is challenging that award.
