Santa Clara County report shows jail worker exploited women

A Santa Clara County jail worker sexually exploited incarcerated women in a prolonged pattern that officials are accused of failing to act on for more than a year — allegations the Sheriff’s Office denies.

A new report from the county office charged with watchdogging the sheriff and county jails said a male correctional worker, who was not a sworn deputy, brought drugs into the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas in exchange for sexual favors. The allegations came from an incarcerated person, which the sheriff’s Jail Crimes Unit investigated and verified through a surveillance operation last year. Officials could not say how many victims there were.

The worker has since been fired and criminal charges are pending. A search of the employee’s locker revealed the behavior was a long-running pattern, according to the Office of Correction and Law Enforcement Monitoring’s report released Tuesday. Officials would not say what kinds of drugs were found, but noted the activity was going on for months.

The report shows the watchdog office received a complaint alleging sheriff leaders had been aware of the misconduct for more than a year, but failed to act to protect the female victims. Representatives for the office, which is staffed by law enforcement reform firm OIR Group under a county contract, said the complaint sparked an internal probe. The sheriff’s office ultimately dismissed the complaint as unsubstantiated, citing a lack of evidence.

“The fact (the worker) was allowed to engage in this behavior for so long was concerning, as well as the fact that he was able to gain influence and was able to bring illicit drugs into the facility,” Michael Gennaco, founder and head of OIR Group, told San José Spotlight. “Once the department learned about it, we were informed. The sheriff’s office did the right thing in collecting enough evidence to make sure the person was no longer with the agency.”

Sheriff Bob Jonsen said his office has a zero-tolerance stance on such behavior.

“When leadership gaps or training needs are identified, we address them to strengthen communication, reporting and the timeliness of internal investigations,” Jonsen told San José Spotlight.

The vulnerability of adults in confinement has led to several state and federal laws, including the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, seeking to curb exploitation by correctional workers who abuse their power. Analisa Zamora, managing director of the Sister Warrior’s Freedom Coalition, said the county incident is proof of the need for more effective measures. The group works to end sexual exploitation and violence in correctional facilities across California.

“Any system that allows someone to exchange substances for sexual favors with people who are confined is a failure at every level,” Zamora told San José Spotlight. “Consent can’t truly exist in these facilities. People are acting out of desperation. Incarcerated people already have histories of trauma and addiction and poverty and violence.”

A sheriff’s office spokesperson said all managers within county jail facilities are trained and aware of proper procedures for reporting such allegations, whether through a designated lieutenant or directly to Internal Affairs.

“Once the allegations of employee misconduct and potential (Prison Rape Elimination Act) violations were brought to the attention of management, immediate steps were taken to initiate an investigation and safeguard the welfare of any female incarcerated individuals who could have been at risk of victimization,” spokesperson Sgt. Brooks Jarosz told San José Spotlight.

The report pluses and minuses

The sexual exploitation findings were just one component of an annual review of the sheriff’s office. The report notes several positive developments, including reversing a major backlog of Internal Affairs complaints and investigations aimed at weeding out bad actors and wrongdoing. Gennaco’s team also lauded Jonsen’s office for improved efforts at transparency and information sharing.

But the watchdog also highlighted other concerning incidents. For example, the team flagged some issues with the internal review of a deputy vehicle pursuit that ended in a crash killing a child passenger in November 2024.

The report also said three people died in custody last year — one by apparent overdose and two deemed natural causes. A fourth person died in the hospital after a fatal beating by other incarcerated people at Elmwood. It’s a significant decrease from the 10 in-custody deaths that occurred in 2024 — the highest number in a single year since 2006.

The jails are under two federal consent decrees — court-ordered performance improvement plans — after lawsuits by civil rights attorneys raised concerns about unconstitutional conditions. The fatal deputy beating of Michael Tyree in 2015 separately prompted a task force to order a string of reforms.

Sean Allen, president of the NAACP of San Jose/Silicon Valley and a former county correctional officer, said the report failed to address the racial demographics of people who died in custody and lacked a detailed breakdown on which correctional officer shifts those deaths occurred.

“As you get into the later part of the week, there are less desirable shifts, and departments in my experience have assigned these by seniority, with more inexperienced people working those less desirable shifts and a lack of supervision,” Allen told San José Spotlight. “We understand that Michael Tyree was killed on one of those more problematic shifts, and a breakdown of when deaths occurred would be helpful to the public.”

Gennaco said it’s a possibility for future reports.

“It’s something that’s worth talking about and seeing whether or not that might be helpful to ask sheriff’s office to provide that section of information,” he said. “Further dissection is always important.”

Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X.