SCI inmate from Albion charged with raping another inmate

In a rare case for the Erie County justice system, an inmate at the State Correctional Institution in Albion was accused of raping another inmate.

The defendant, Antonio Sierra, 48, of Lebanon County, is accused of committing the sexual assault on April 2 at the men’s prison in western Erie County, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday by Pennsylvania State Police in Girard. State police used DNA as the primary evidence, according to the complaint.

Sierra is charged with five counts: first-degree rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, second-degree aggravated assault and battery by a prisoner, and first-degree sexual assault.

State police investigated after the other inmate reported he had been assaulted, the criminal complaint states. The complaint states that police questioned Sierra and that “he denied the allegation of raping the victim and further denied any sexual activity between himself and the victim.”

A DNA analysis of the rape kit in this case detected Sierra’s DNA, the indictment says.

Sierra’s arraignment is scheduled for May 28 before Springfield Township District Judge Jeff Gadley. Sierra was transferred from SCI Albion to SCI Coal Township in Northumberland County, according to prison records.

Sierra is serving a sentence of 20 to 60 years in prison. He was found guilty in a 1998 jury trial in Lebanon County of a number of charges, including three counts of attempted murder, six counts of aggravated assault, three counts of arson and eight counts of robbery, court records show.

State report tracks rape allegations against inmates

The Erie County District Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting Sierra in the rape case, has handled few jail rape cases in recent years, said District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz. She said the latest case was likely tried during the pandemic.

Pennsylvania’s 40,600-inmate state prison system received 135 allegations of nonconsensual sexual conduct between inmates – a definition that includes rape – in 2022, according to the state Department of Corrections’ most recent report filed under the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003.

According to the report, seven allegations were found to be substantiated. The remaining allegations were found to be unfounded (64) or unfounded (33) or are still being investigated (31).

At SCI Albion, which has 1,990 inmates, a total of 47 allegations of non-consensual sexual conduct between inmates, abusive sexual contact or sexual harassment were recorded in 2022. This is according to the Prison Rape Elimination Act report, which does not break down the allegations by category.

Five of these allegations were found to be substantiated, 21 were unfounded, seven were baseless and 14 are still under investigation, the report said.

Federal law aims to reduce rape in prisons

Overall, according to the report, “approximately 6.1 percent of all allegations made in PA DOC facilities in 2022 were substantiated, 52.5 percent were unsubstantiated, and 23.7 percent of all allegations made in PA DOC facilities were unfounded.”

Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) “to address the problem of sexual abuse of persons in the custody of U.S. correctional authorities,” according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice.

The law requires federal, state and local prison systems to adopt “a zero-tolerance policy toward rape in prisons, jails, police lockups and other detention facilities,” the institute said.

According to the criminal complaint, state police investigated the case against Sierra pursuant to procedures established in the PREA.

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