Prison Worker Faces Charges of Sexually Abusing RTC Inmate
An assistant warden in the Nebraska prison system was arrested on charges alleging that she sexually abused an inmate.
Last week, the Nebraska State Patrol arrested Sarah Nelson Torsiello, an assistant warden at the Department of Correctional Services’ Reception and Treatment Center in Lincoln. Torsiello, 45, faces felony charges of having sexually abused an inmate and having had unauthorized communication with a prisoner.
Torsiello, 45, who has worked in the state prison system since August 2003 and previously held positions at the Nebraska State Penitentiary, also resigned from the Reception and Treatment Center, which focuses on inmates with mental health issues and offers education programs.
“It is extremely disappointing that someone in this position now faces felony charges,” said Scott Frakes, the Department of Correctional Services’ director. “These are serious offenses. Inappropriate behavior involving a member of the inmate population will not be tolerated in (the department).”
Frakes previously said that unlawful interactions with prisoners sometimes begin with an employee doing a small favor for an inmate, and inmates sometimes groom employees using blackmail or emotional manipulation.
In September, a nurse at the department’s Community Corrections Center in Lincoln was arrested on the same charges as Torsiello. And in October, a 26-year-old woman who worked at the Omaha Correctional Center was arrested on suspicion of having had unauthorized communication with a prisoner. Both women resigned.
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