Raped Florida Corrections Officer To Sue City

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --

A corrections officer beaten and raped by an inmate is filing a lawsuit against the city and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, claiming a "conscious disregard" for her safety.

Jonathan Tave, 27, pleaded guilty to raping the officer and is currently a life sentence plus 750 years in state prison on the sexual assault charge plus murders committed in September 2004 and January 2005.

The female corrections officer was assaulted in the jail's library in April in an attack that lasted for more than an hour.

The victim's lawyer outlines several things the sheriff's office failed to do that could have prevented the attack:

• Relaxed security precautions on a high-risk inmate
• Failing to search inmates before entering the law library
• Failing to conduct systematic searches of jail cells as required by the Department of Corrections
• Allowing male inmates with a history of violence and sexual aggression towards women, including Tave, to be in areas of the jail where female personnel work alone
• Requiring corrections personnel to work in areas not under supervision or surveillance
• Allowing inmates to be sent to the law library without physical restraint or supervision
• Keeping the door of the law library locked from the outside, prohibiting the victim from escaping the assault
• Failing or refusing to provide alarms or restraints to report or repel physical or sexual assaults by inmates in the law library

The attorney and the victim laid out those allegations made in the lawsuit Wednesday afternoon.

The victim, called Jane Doe to conceal her identity, also spoke out about the incident for the first time on Wednesday.

Police say Tave threatened to cut a correction's officers neck with this shank. "I didn't think I was going to make it out. I gave up fighting. I was fighting and fighting, and I gave up fighting. I got tired of being raped over and over. I got tired of him making me feel less than a dog. I gave up fighting," said the victim.

She said Tave told her he had nothing to lose and threatened to stab her with a makeshift shank and that nobody would find her for days.

"He knew. He told me that," said Jane Doe. "I started saying my prayers. I said my prayer to ask the Lord to be with me because I didn’t think I was going to walk out. I felt that I was going to be killed."

She said she never expected the attack. She had helped Tave with research several times before, but she said Tave and every other inmate knew there were no cameras and no one monitoring what was going in the library.

"I knew he was going to plead guilty. I know how inmates think; I've been working with them for the longest. He did it to get away from the death penalty. Yes, so what he got life and this many years. He took away my life inside. To be a woman for a man to do like that, it hurts 24/7," Jane Doe said.

The city declined to be interviewed about the lawsuit but Deputy General Counsel Howard Maltz provided a statement: "While what happened to the corrections officer was horrible and obviously we wish it had never happened, it was not due to any fault of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, but was due to the ruthless act of a violent criminal who is rightfully going to be in prison for the remainder of his life. The city and JSO intend to vigorously defend this proposed lawsuit."

Previous Stories:

• October 13, 2008: Hand Signs Made By Murderer In Court Prompt Investigation
• October 9, 2008: Killer Pleads Guilty To 2nd Murder, Rape
• October 6, 2008: Jury Finds Tave Guilty Of 2005 Murder
• May 8, 2008: Man Facing 2 Murder Charges Pleads Not Guilty To Rape
• May 7, 2008: Man Accused Of Rape In Jail Faces New Murder Charge
• April 18, 2008: Sheriff: Corrections Officer Raped By Prisoner

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