A former prison doctor was sentenced to two years in prison Thursday for sexually molesting inmates when they sought treatment from him at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta.
Lewis Jackson, 34, of Atlanta, was sentenced in federal district court for sexually assaulting three inmates at the penitentiary. He admitted to abusing the inmates during October 2011 while working as a physician with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. He tried to perform oral sex on the inmates during their exams and tried to engage in anal sex with one of them, federal prosecutors said.
He is also awaiting sentencing in Washington, D.C., where he pleaded guilty in January to sexually assaulting an inmate in 2008 while working at the D.C. jail. Jackson was on bond in that case at the time of his arrest in Atlanta, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“The federal inmates who relied on Dr. Jackson for their care believed he would treat them humanely,” said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates in a statement. “He exploited this trust when he sexually abused three inmates at the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta and another inmate at the District of Columbia jail.”
Jackson worked as a physician at the Atlanta penitentiary from January 2011 through July 2012.
He was scheduled to enter his guilty plea in Atlanta in October, but that was delayed because he tried to commit suicide the previous day. He was then hospitalized for seven days.
He pleaded guilty in late November. At that time, he told U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg that during his hospitalization, he was diagnosed with mental health conditions he was unaware he had.
Jackson told Totenberg he was taking medication, receiving excellent therapy and “I’ve got the most wonderful and supportive family.”
—Staff writer Bill Rankin contributed to this report.
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