The state of Oregon has agreed to pay $225,000 to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by a woman who alleged a prison guard coerced her into performing sexual acts while she was held in isolation.
The woman, identified in court records as “June Doe,” was incarcerated at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility when the alleged abuse occurred in April 2018.
According to the lawsuit, former corrections officer Levi D. Gray told the woman he would try to move her out of a segregation cell if she performed a sexual act in front of him. The woman said she was suffering severe anxiety and felt desperate to leave isolation, leading her to comply with his demands.
Court filings say she was moved out of segregation the following day. However, Gray allegedly returned to her cell window on two additional occasions and asked her to perform sexual acts again, which she said she did.
Her attorney, Ginger Mooney, argued that Gray used his authority to exploit a vulnerable prisoner who was experiencing a mental health crisis.
The woman reported feeling suicidal in May 2018, according to court documents. Years later, in March 2024, she said she realized she had been victimized after discussing the incident with her boyfriend during a prison phone call. She later reported the allegations through the prison system’s process under the Prison Rape Elimination Act.
Gray was later convicted in a separate case and sentenced to one year and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree custodial misconduct involving another incarcerated person. The Oregon Department of Corrections placed him on administrative leave after his 2023 arrest and fired him in July 2024.
Officials with the corrections department said the conduct violated the agency’s mission and the trust placed in staff responsible for supervising incarcerated individuals.
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