Alabama work release inmate Olivia Osborne says warden ignored claims of rape

By Chellie Cervone - Posted: Nov 14, 2013 at 9:39 pm

(Photo: Breakout/ H Assaf)

Olivia Osborne says warden ignored claims of rape

Olivia Osborne has filed a lawsuit because she claims warden Shirley Smith ignored claims of rape and allowed the abuse to continue.

Her lawsuit details numerous accounts of sexual assaults, rapes and stalking and says that no action was taken other than to transfer the guard accused of raping her and placing Osborne on birth control.

Stone was an inmate at the Birmingham Work Release Center and began serving her time in Jan., 2011.

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In the lawsuit, she says that a prison guard Vincent Cheatham started harassing her approximately two weeks after she arrived at the facility.

The harassment continued for months and then, in May, 2011, the assaults escalated with Cheatham making unwanted physical sexual advances that Osborne immediately reported.

She claims that the reports she filed were altered and that the female warden, Shirley Smith, transferred Cheatham to another facility but that the assaults did not stop.

The lawsuit alleges that she even dialed #77 to report the assaults to internal affairs and that no action was taken.

At the end of June, even though the guard has been transferred, Cheatham showed up at the Best Western Hotel where she was working and raped her.

The abuse continued and she was again raped at the Best western on Oct., 14.

Prior to the attack in mid Oct., Osborne claims that the warden was aware of the continued assaults and that her solution was to place Osborne on birth control.

More attacks followed with no one in authority taking any action to protect Osborne.

The lawsuit states that the last attack occurred in July, 2012.

In addition to Smith and Cheatham, the lawsuit also names the Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections Kim Thomas since Thomas was responsible for the training and conduct of Smith and Cheatham.

Although Osborne reported the assaults to the warden and says she contacted internal affairs, there is no mention if she contacted the police while she away from the facility and working at the Best Western.

Lawsuit filed by Olivia Osborne.