BRENTWOOD — Jailhouse rapes are a “distasteful” part of working in the corrections field and “there may be some that we don't know about,” said John Blomeke, assistant superintendent for the Rockingham County Department of Corrections.

“It happens, it's reality, but it's pretty rare,” Blomeke said.

BRENTWOOD — Jailhouse rapes are a “distasteful” part of working in the corrections field and “there may be some that we don't know about,” said John Blomeke, assistant superintendent for the Rockingham County Department of Corrections.

“It happens, it's reality, but it's pretty rare,” Blomeke said.



One of those rare cases played out in Rockingham Superior Court Tuesday when Joshua McDermott, 29, of Rochester, was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in the New Hampshire state prison for raping another male inmate assigned to the same cell, according to Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams. The 35-year-old victim, said Reams, was incarcerated for being a habitual offender — meaning he was jailed for driving-related offenses.



Blomeke said another recent case involving an inmate-on-inmate rape in the county jail has led to a pending civil suit, though he said he didn't have details. In that instance, Reams said, Benjamin Ayala, now 25, was sentenced to the state prison for 5 to 10 years for raping a fellow inmate three years ago.



Major Al Brackett, of the county sheriff's department, said he investigated the Ayala case and called it one of the most “brutal” he's seen during 38 years of law enforcement.



“I was really horrified,” Brackett said. “He was very physically abusive before and during the rape.”



Reams said when accusers and alleged perpetrators are both inmates, it can pose problems for prosecutors because of “potential credibility issues.” But the McDermott and Ayala cases both ended with convictions, Reams said, because victims were willing to report the crimes, and prosecutors were able to “put evidence together.”



In the case of McDermott's victim, who was raped in the county jail 11 months ago, he submitted to a medical exam at a nearby hospital, where evidence was collected from his body, Reams said. McDermott was convicted for two counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault — crimes that commenced while the victim was sleeping, according to county prosecutors.



Brackett said the victim was initially “ashamed” to report what had happened.



Ayala was in the county jail for multiple counts of assault, witness tampering and criminal threatening when he raped an inmate, according to public records. In a press release Reams published at the time of Ayala's initial arrest, the county attorney said Ayala was jailed after breaking his victim's ribs, choking her to the point of unconsciousness, slitting her neck with a knife and stabbing her with a screwdriver.



In addition to a jail sentence for those initial violent crimes against the woman, Ayala was given another 5 to 10 years in the state prison for sodomizing and assaulting the male inmate.



Blomeke said no county corrections officers have been found negligent with regard to the rapes, while stating that they don't see everything going on in all corners of the county jail, at all times. If an officer were found negligent, he assured, there would be disciplinary action.



Brackett, whose department investigated both cases, said if a victim cries out for help, the crimes are discovered. But victims of jailhouse crimes don't always do so, said Brackett, adding the county doesn't have anything near a one-to-one officer-to-inmate staffing ratio and that criminals “will find opportunity.”



“They'll wait for the right time,” he said.