WHEELWRIGHT – A German woman, who was a former inmate at Otter Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright, has filed a lawsuit against the prison, saying an officer at the facility during her stay there forced her to trade sex for phone calls.

The woman, 38, has accused Dwight Crowell, an internal affairs officer at the prison, of sexual assault in the lawsuit, alleging he forced her to exchange sex for phone calls to her mother, who she claims was sick during the time period.

The lawsuit also names numerous others, all superiors of Crowell’s, who she claims made no effort to put an end to the alleged arrangement.

According to reports from the Associated Press, the woman was in prison on theft and various other charges.

Otter Creek, a privately-owned facility, now houses male inmates. Female inmates were pulled from the facility roughly a year ago in the wake of several claims from inmates of sexual abuse at the hands of officers.

In the three years leading up to this move, there were 18 alleged cases of sexual misconduct at the prison, while the investigation conducted this past fall revealed another seven allegations.

Gov. Steve Beshear called the removal of the female inmates a “bold” plan and a step closer to a long-term solution as to how to manage female inmates within the state.

Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo called for a state-takeover of Otter Creek at that time in a letter written to the governor.

In July of last year, Randy Stovall, who was the prison’s top official in the early 1990s, was again appointed as warden at Otter Creek. At that time, the prison housed some 640, with full capacity set at 653.