This story was updated to clarify the conviction of Brian Balzer. He was convicted of one count of custodial sexual misconduct.

Sexual abuse and rape are not only "widespread" at Oregon's only women's prison, but the violence is ignored by prison staff and those who report it are punished, according to a series of multi-million dollar lawsuits filed against the Oregon Department of Corrections.

Five current and former inmates at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility are suing the state, claiming they were raped, groped, assaulted and molested by Tony Klein, a nurse in the medical unit.

The plaintiffs further accuse prison staff of ignoring and allowing Klein's predatory behavior to continue for years — and of retaliating against inmates who reported the alleged abuse.

An investigation by Oregon State Police found that 11 inmates reported some form of sexual contact with Klein, but prosecutors declined to charge him, saying some of the accounts were unreliable and the case was "unsupportable" as a whole.

Klein, 34, who's also a defendant in the lawsuits, resigned from his position on Jan. 31, 2018. Despite multiple attempts, he could not be reached for comment for this story and declined to comment during previous coverage.

His nursing license with the Oregon State Board of Nursing remains active.

One of the women's attorneys, Michelle Burrows, claims Klein may have abused, raped or sodomized more than 15 women during the seven years he worked at the Wilsonville prison.

She said the five federal lawsuits are just the first of eight or more accusing the prison nurse of sexual assault — and the Oregon Department of Corrections of turning a blind eye to his predatory behavior.

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Prison officials told the Statesman Journal they take all allegations of sexual assault seriously, but declined to comment on the claims against Klein, citing the pending litigation.

Sex abuse cases have dogged Coffee Creek since it opened in 2001 and through seven superintendent changes.

High profile cases include Paul Golden, a former groundskeeper arrested in 2009 for sexually abusing inmates in a "rape shed" at the prison and former corrections officer Brian Balzer, who was convicted of one count of custodial sexual misconduct in 2016 after an inmate said he coerced her into sex.

The inmates' attorneys insist this pattern of abuse demands a sea change in policy and outside oversight of the prison.

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'You're not the only one'

"Tony was very kind and nice and helpful. That's how he gained my trust," one of the women plaintiffs said during an interview with the Statesman Journal that included two other former inmates and two of their lawyers, Burrows and Leonard Williamson.

She said she didn't think twice when he summoned her to the clinic in January 2017. She was recovering from a respiratory infection and refusing to go would have resulted in a disciplinary report.

She said once there, Klein allegedly isolated her in an exam room and groped her. Five months later, he assaulted her again.

"I tried to shove it away and forget about it and it worked for a while," she said. "I blamed myself."

She confided in a friend, then kept silent — until one day when her friend told her: "You're not the only one. You have got to tell someone."

Now four months out ofprison, she's telling her story, accusing Klein of sexual assault.

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The Statesman Journal typically does not identify victims of sexual assault and abuse. The names of some victims are included with their permission.

The accusations fly in the face of prison's officials' "zero-tolerance" stance on sexual assault.

Since the passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act in 2003, prisons have adhered to strict guidelines and undergone audits to deter prison sexual assault and sexual misconduct.

Prison officials say they are "dedicated to maintaining safety for all inmates and others inside its facilities, with PREA as a top priority." They promise a swift response and encourage victims to come forward.

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Victims report abuse, retaliation

The three women said prison staff was not just complicit in the abuse, they added to the victims' trauma.

"The response from the Department of Corrections was the scariest part of the whole situation," Melissa Vitellaro said.

She first met Klein after being sent to prison in 2010. During a medical visit in 2013, Klein allegedly began massaging her legs, moving his hands up her thighs and sexually assaulting her.

When she returned to prison in 2017, he met with her again and groped her groin area, according to the lawsuit.

Vitellaro said she knew from previous scandals how victims were treated after reporting assaults.

Inmates are placed on lockdown and lose privileges and visitation — all while prison officials say it's for their own protection, she said.

"It's like telling on your step-parent while you're still living in the house," Vitellaro said.

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Kristy (whose last name is being kept confidential) spent her first few weeks at Coffee Creek of her 18-month prison sentence detoxing from her drug addiction in 2017. When some of her medication caused her blood pressure to dip abnormally low, she fainted, fell off her top bunk and cut her leg.

During a visit to change her bandage, she said Klein — who was wearing scrubs and no underwear — dismissed the female nurse present, lifted Kristy's injured foot into his lap and pressed it against his erection.

She said he repeated the act on two other occasions, asking her, "What do you know about this?"

On the third occasion, he allegedly molested her.

She said she was afraid and distraught following the incidents but eventually disclosed the abuse to her counselor.

All three women said they faced a tangle of red tape, as well as disbelief, threats and retaliation from prison employees.

Over time, they and their family members connected with Burrows.

Much of the most extreme abuse, including allegations of rape, sodomy and strangulation, involved inmate orderlies assigned to work in the medical unit.

One inmate orderly recounted being isolated by Klein in offices and closets without cameras. She said she was molested on multiple occasions and raped. She also reported another inmate being choked by Klein's stethoscope during oral sex.

Burrows said some of her clients — alleged victims of sexual assault — were handcuffed, shackled, taken to nearby jails to be interviewed about their abuse.

When Burrows met with them at Coffee Creek, she said corrections officers would pass by them for no apparent reason. A few women began visibly shaking and crying at the sight of the officers.

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After Kristy reported the abuse, she said her counselor refused to talk to her about it, citing the ongoing PREA investigation.

Kristy said she began having anxiety and nightmares, including one where her alleged attacker hurt her baby.

"It was the most heart-wrenching thing," she said. "I felt like there was something wrong with me."

She said her counselor didn't want to talk through why she was having the nightmares. Instead, she was prescribed stronger sleeping pills and anxiety medication.

"That's all they can give you — more medication so you don't dream," she said.

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Victim complaints 'too unreliable'

Following an internal corrections department investigation and then an investigation by the Oregon State Police, the Washington County District Attorney's staff issued a decision Aug. 27 to not file criminal charges against Klein.

The charging decision details how 11 inmates reported sexual contact with Klein between May and September 2017. Some of it was reported as consensual and others reported the contact as unwanted.

One woman reported having consensual sexual intercourse with Klein while visiting the medical unit. She said she kept her underwear and later contracted a sexually transmitted infection from the encounter. Investigators tested the underwear for DNA but no male DNA was detected.

Some inmates reported hearing comments and being touched inappropriately by Klein.

But other inmates reported rumors about inmates plotting to make false allegations against Klein to extort money from the Department of Corrections.

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Klein denied the abuse allegations and told investigators he believed he was being "set up" so that inmates could collect money.

Prosecutors decided not to proceed with any charges, saying that "taken as a whole," the allegations were unsupportable.

"While it may be true that some of these inmates did, in fact, engage in sexual activity with the defendant, the information we have is too unreliable to present to a jury," Deputy District Attorney Rayney Meisel said in the decision.

"It appears clear that there would be a great deal of evidence to support the defense that these allegations were false attempts at extorting money from the Department of Corrections."

Vitellaro said the decision not to prosecute Klein was like a "slap in the face."

"It just makes us seem like we're not credible," she said. "Just because we're inmates doesn't mean we're all lying."

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A history of misconduct

The lawsuit also details a dozen past instances of assault, rape and misconduct by staff that ended in criminal convictions and large payouts by the state.

In 2004, when Lt. Jeffrey Barcenas, of Salem, was convicted of four counts of official misconduct. He and food services coordinator Christopher Randall, of Keizer, were accused of having sex with a female inmate at the prison.

The woman sued the Oregon Department of Corrections for the abuse, flawed investigation and bullying from officers to keep quiet. She agreed to accept $350,000 from the state to settle her suit.

One year later, Oregon became the 49th state to enact a custodial sexual abuse law.

In another previous case, Paul Golden, of Turner — a former prison landscape manager — was accused by at least 10 women of sexual misconduct and sexual abuse.

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The groundskeeper was accused of abusing inmates working on his crew.

Inmates reported being forced to perform oral sex in an area dubbed the "rape shed" and of being repeatedly groped by Golden. He was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 11 years and six months of prison.

That same year, plumber Kaleo Rick and maintenance worker Troy Austin were arrested for sexual misconduct. Both were accused of having sex with inmates in utility tunnels at the prison. An inmate said she had sex with Rick in exchange for drugs.

Rick pleaded guilty to first-degree custodial sexual misconduct and delivery of methamphetamine. Austin was convicted of four counts of custodial sexual misconduct.

In 2016, former corrections officer Brian Balzer was convicted of custodial sexual misconduct by a Washington County jury. His victim was held on a material witness hold in jail while his trial was underway. She reported that Balzer coerced her into sex multiple times until she was released from Coffee Creek in 2014.

One year later, three women filed a federal lawsuit alleging they were sexually abused by a Coffee Creek doctor while incarcerated.

Dr. Robert Snider had previously faced accusations and a lawsuit accusing him of sexually abusing an inmate during a gynecological exam. The state agreed to pay $175,000 to settle the earlier lawsuit. The 2017 lawsuit alleges that "hundreds, if not thousands of women" were mistreated by Snider.

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Officials accused of ignoring abuse

Attorneys for the victims said prison officials aren't learning from their mistakes.

"Each new investigation brings much publicity, some investigations and sometimes prosecution," Burrows said in the lawsuit. "Each new investigation brings public promises and assurances by ODOC that the problems are only isolated to single bad actors and that the prison system cannot control or manage this situation adequately."

But, she argues, prison officials fail to follow suggestions made during past audits, like staffing, surveillance, electronic monitoring of inmates, severe discipline of abusers and adequate training and audits.

Instead, the corrections officials just fire offending employees and take no further action, Burrows said.

It was in this environment that Klein was allowed to abuse more than 15 women, according to the lawsuit.

Managers, medical staff and security staff are accused of ignoring obvious signs and "notable inappropriate and criminal behaviors" by Klein over the course of several years.

His victims reported to staff Klein's flirtatious and "pervy" behavior, like wearing scrubs without underwear and ordering inmates to wear shorts to appointments.

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He even allegedly flouted existing rules, like examining inmates alone and dismissing female chaperones.

"Klein was able to conduct himself so openly he believed he was untouchable and obviously it was clear to (his victim) that no one at ODOC cares about the well-being or safety of women in Coffee Creek," Burrows said.

The existing framework provided little check on predatory behavior, according to the lawsuit.

Inmates aren't electronically tracked as they move through the facility and aren't always signed in and out, Burrows said.

And although officials claim to thoroughly investigate sex abuse claims, Williamson likened current investigations to a "fox guarding the henhouse."

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"There's not really an independent investigation," he said.

According to the most recent PREA report data for Coffee Creek, in 2017, 11 staff-to-inmate reports of sexual abuse were determined to be unsubstantiated. Four were determined to be unfounded. Zero were substantiated.

Attorneys for the victims found similar patterns statewide.

In 2011, 93 sexual abuse cases were reported, but only five were founded. In 2016, 67 cases were reported and eight were determined to be founded.

"These statistics are not accurate nor reflective of the events presently occurring in

Oregon," the suit states.

Many of the inmates are previous victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence, making them vulnerable targets for predatory offenders.

A recent study of inmates at Coffee Creek by the Oregon Justice Resource Center found that 75 percent of those surveyed experienced sexual abuse as a child or teen. Fifty-five percent reporting being sexually abused as adults, and another 59 percent reported experiencing physically violence.

More than two-thirds of those surveyed said their trauma led to their involvement with the criminal justice system.

“Our current criminal system has not developed with women in mind and is not well-designed to consider the involvement of defendants’ histories of victimization and trauma,” the report says. “This results in severe and unjust accountability.”

Each lawsuit demands $5 million for each victim.

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"That number is driven by both the 20-year history of this prison not being able to protect women and the egregious natural — I mean these things happened in front of other people and no one stopped Klein," Burrows said.

The lawsuits also seek the appointment of a court-appointed "special master" to audit, review and investigate the widespread issues at the prison.

"If we don't ask for changes and we don't ask for institutional and systemic changes, nothing is going to change," Burrows said. "These people have been sued two dozen times and they are still doing this and it's getting worse."

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Leaders promise 'sexual safety'

Prison officials say they've worked diligently to reduce prison sexual abuse.

All state prisons receive a national PREA audit once every three years.

An audit conducted in 2018 at Coffee Creek found the facility exceeded four standards and met 39.

In 2018, Oregon Department of Corrections PREA coordinator Ericka Sage told the Statesman Journal that every allegation is investigated.

Inmates can report in person, through the grievance system, through a friend or family member or anonymously through the governor’s office.

Criminal investigations are completed by the Oregon State Police and administrative investigations are handled by correction department staff trained in conducting sexual abuse investigations in confinement settings.

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Sage said the department is proud of its rape-deduction standards and has "worked diligently to provide a culture of sexual safety."

Released from prison just days earlier, Kristy was still adjusting to life on the outside when interviewed for this story.

She said she was able to get into a treatment program while in prison and work through her addiction and trauma. Once out, she returned to what she described as a supportive family.

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Physically, she's much better than when she entered prison.

"Mentally, I'm in a worse place than before," she said.

Another of Klein's alleged victims said she tries to stay positive.

"I've been in counseling," she said. "I work out. I go to church. I journal. But I found myself in a deep depression. I'm still working through it."

But effects of the abuse still linger. She's afraid to be alone with men. She has nightmares.

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"If my husband touches me a certain way, I react," she said. Burrows said about 10 women, some still incarcerated, are expected to file lawsuits against Klein and the Department of Corrections.

"For all of these women, this is an incredibly brave thing to do, and it's a dangerous thing for some of them to do," she said.

Vitellaro said she fears for the women incarcerated at Coffee Creek.

"My concern is for the women that are left there," she said. "I just worry for them."

For questions, comments and news tips, email reporter Whitney Woodworth at wmwoodwort@statesmanjournal.com, call 503-399-6884 or follow on Twitter @wmwoodworth