The Canadian Press
EDMONTON–Police have charged a former prison guard at a federal penitentiary in Alberta with sexually assaulting a female co-worker.
Graham Trevor Spilsbury also faces a charge of assault with a weapon against the woman.
The 50-year-old has been released on a promise to appear in court at a later date. Police say they cannot release further details as they continue to investigate other allegations.
The alleged crimes happened at the maximum-security Edmonton Institution before 2017, when the Correctional Service Canada alerted police.
That same year, an independent review of the prison on the northeast edge of the city found its work atmosphere was toxic. The review made dozens of recommendations for change.
The Correctional Service later announced that it had fired six employees, hired a new warden, improved training and created a confidential tip line for employees to report misconduct.
Last year, four female guards at the prison filed a lawsuit against the Correctional Service and the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers. The women claimed they had suffered prolonged abuse from male colleagues that included waterboarding, although the lawsuit did not detail how it happened.
The suit did claim that a male guard pushed one of the women over a desk, stuck his hand down her pants and locked a set of handcuffs through her underwear.
Another woman alleged that she was constantly harassed for being gay and once suffered chemical burns on her buttocks and upper legs after she used a washroom where pepper spray had been left on a toilet seat.
One of the women also claimed a male guard often chased her around the office with his penis and that her head was shoved under his buttocks while he sat on a toilet. She alleged another guard stalked her, touched her inappropriately at work and left sex toys in her car.
The lawsuit did not name the alleged perpetrators.
The law office representing the women could not confirm yesterday if Spilsbury is one of the guards referred to in the lawsuit.
The Correctional Service and the union did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the criminal charges.
