A former private prisoner transport officer, Marquet Johnson, 44, pleaded guilty to violating the civil rights of multiple female pretrial federal detainees by sexually assaulting them during prisoner transports, the Department of Justice reports. “Sexual assaults carried out by law enforcement officials at any stage of the criminal justice process, including in the transport of detainees held in custody, have no place in our society,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
According to the plea agreement, at the time of the offenses, Johnson worked as a prisoner transport officer for Inmate Services Corporation (ISC). As a prisoner transport officer, Johnson performed the government function of picking up individuals who were arrested on out-of-state warrants and transporting those individuals back to the jurisdictions that issued the warrants.