It’s been more than 16 months and still there is no word as to the disposition of a Union Parish case involving a prisoner already awaiting sentencing for aggravated rape who, inexplicably, was not only allowed out of his cell, but also given admittance into an isolation cell where he raped a 17-year-old girl not once, but twice.
The Ruston Daily Leader first reported the story on May 3, 2016, but the rape had occurred earlier, on April 19. LouisianaVoice posted its first story on May 10. (See that story HERE.)
Demarcus Shavez Peyton of Homer, then 28, was being held in the Union Parish Detention Center pending his sentencing in Claiborne Parish after his conviction there of aggravated rape. Union Parish officials were informed by the Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office that Peyton was known as a serial rapist and that he had already been convicted of aggravated rape. He has since been sentenced to live imprisonment for the Claiborne Parish rape.
The Union Parish Detention Center is a public-run facility overseen by an operation committee comprised of District Attorney John Belton, Union Parish Sheriff Dusty Gates, the Union Parish Police Jury and the Farmerville Police Chief. Because no one individual has authority over the way in which the detention center is run, Gates was unable to adequately see to it that the girl, who had been placed in an isolation cell because she was under the influence of meth, was protected from Peyton.
Gates told LouisianaVoice on Wednesday (Aug. 30) that it was his understanding that the guard on duty that night has been disciplined. “The guard wasn’t paying attention,” Gates said. “When the call button was pushed, he just opened the cell without paying attention.”
The operational structure of the detention center and Gates’s explanation also brought into sharp focus the problems inherent with private prisons which are little more than money trees for the local sheriffs or private operators who run them. LouisianaVoice addressed that problem in a follow-up post on May 31 (click HERE).
In that story, three questions were posed:
- How was it that the girl was being held in proximity to a convicted aggravated rapist?
- Who (and this is the most important question of all) was the Union Parish Detention Center staff member who allowed Peyton out of his cell and into the girl’s?
- Who is responsible for operations of the detention center?
The third question has already been answered. We’re still awaiting answers to the first two as well as a few other questions we put to the Attorney General’s Office in the form of a formal public records request because the AG was asked (rightly) by Belton to take over investigation of the matter in consideration of the DA’s involvement in running the prison (in itself, a curious arrangement):
- Where does the attorney general’s investigation stand at this point?
- Has a trial of Demarcus Peyton been scheduled for this alleged rape? If so, what is the scheduled date of that trial?
- What disciplinary action was—or is anticipated to be—taken against the guard?
- For Demarcus Peyton to have committed this act, two cell doors would have had to have been opened: his and the cell to the victim. Why was Demarcus Peyton allowed to leave his cell and even more egregious, why was he admitted to the victim’s cell when he was already awaiting sentencing for aggravated rape?
- Are any measures being recommended by the attorney general’s office relative to the future operation of the Union Parish Detention Center?
Our questions were forwarded to the Attorney General’s Office at 10:09 a.m. Wednesday. At 11:25 a.m., we got out answer from Press Secretary Ruth Wisher: “This matter is under investigation; therefore, I cannot comment on the specifics or answer questions at this time.”
Sixteen months and it’s still “under investigation.”
How long does it take to investigate a rape in a confined area like a jail cell?
Another seemingly unrelated but nonetheless important question that we could be justified in asking is: To what end are sheriffs seeking bigger detention centers to house more prisoners? The answer to that, of course, is power, purely and simply. If the sheriff can build detention centers to house more prisoners, it brings in additional state money (the state pays about $26 per day per prisoner housed). With that extra income, the sheriff can shore up his power with bigger and more impressive weaponry arsenals.
That theory was underscored just this week when President Trump announced plans to remove the restrictions on military gear for local police departments (click HERE). That announcement must have local sheriffs and police chiefs salivating over the prospects of having a Humvee or a mine resistant ambush protected vehicle.
There will be those who will be just itching for the slightest provocation so they can roll out their military weapons to put down the insurrection and to haul anyone who might object off to their locally-run jails so they can keep the beds full and the payments rolling in from the state. It’s a self-perpetuating ATM.
Meanwhile, someone forgot to check the cell door, leaving a teenage girl vulnerable.
And now, 16 months after the fact, it’s still “under investigation.”
Perhaps Attorney General Jeff Landry has more important matters on his plate than bringing such a trivial matter as a sexual assault on a teenage girl to a close after more than 16 months. After all, she was on meth and in jail.
And we have to protect decent, upstanding citizens first, right?
Louisiana Voice 
My question is, who would be responsible for the civil damages “$” to the 17-year-old girl?
At that point I’m sure they’ll be some major conflicts of interest “follow the money.”
First of all, why would a male prisoner be allowed to have any contact with a female prisoner?
Whoever was on watch failed to do his job and sixteen months is way too long to find out the “why” of it all, unless they are doing an undercover operation in the jail to see just who might be bringing in contraband, after all the girl was on meth. Drug dealers have very long arms that stretch in some strange locations.
Yep, it is all about the benjamins, always has been and always will be.
I would rather the state build a huge full scale re-hab center instead of building more jails for the people who are caught with drugs. Rehabilitation is better than incarceration any day.
The meth wasn’t brought into the jail; she was already on meth when she was booked into jail and placed in what was supposed to be an isolation cell.
I understood that Mr.Tom, but that doesn’t mean that she didn’t have some contact on the inside to get her more and maybe they did an exchange of one for the other. It might not have been rape, but the guard would have had to be in on it.
We had something similar happen in our jail here and they got caught. The feds came in and now the jail is monitored.
Just a suggestion because I wasn’t there but contraband gets into a lot of jails everyday. They do get caught eventually though.
Tom, this stinks of corruption and cover up. The right thing to have been done here was have State Police or FBI investigate. If criminal wrongdoing is found, the State A.G. or U.S. Attorney could then prosecute, depending on the findings.
But instead, 16 months later, the public has no transparency on what happened.
There are too many folks in the corrections business for profit—all while tied to the Sheriffs’ Association and the Department of Corrections.
Regardless of the facts in this or other cases [details of which we will almost assuredly never know], our justice system can always be counted on to circle the wagons to defend ITSELF.