NEVER FORGET — Breaking the Silence …” The True Story of TAMMY RUCKER ! A TELL ALL STORY about the West Virginia Regional Jail System!!

* It has been five years since RGW first published this TRUE story, please review this frightening true account – and enjoy this Thanksgiving SEASON and coming back home for DEER hunting SEASON *

By Tammy Rucker – Baisden/ Editor Edison – CalPatty Press Editor

Tammy Rucker tells about her terrible ordeal and was writing to the SC of the Central WV SS while she was incarcerated in 2009, and has finally come forward, to tell the true tale of the living hell that exists inside the West Virginia Regional Jail System.

“It seems all my life I made poor decisions, made them on emotion instead of thought. I never did foresee the punishment I would ultimately pay, or the nightmares I continue to suffer to this very day!”

For the record I’m “Tink”  this is my story of mistakes, wrong roads chosen and the injustice  of misuse of power and preying on the vulnerable by the people chosen, and paid to uphold the law in the name of JUSTICE.

Where everything went wrong in my life I can’t truly pin point. I do however, make no excuses for myself nor do I minimize my behavior. I was wrong in regard to breaking the law, there was no doubt about it.  I was mixed up in a life of drugs and countless run ins with the law. It was a matter of time before I found myself behind bars. I  was in and out of the local regional jail. I soon knew everyone in the facility, some friendly some not. Sooner or later I made bond and was returned to the life of drugs and bad company I kept until the next time I would be back in jail.

One day out of the blue my phone rang, it was the prosecutor’s office informing me they finally had enough to indict me on meth lab charges. I knew I would be going to prison soon.

Having been in and out of the regional jail I was more than familiar with how things worked inside. The guards, also known as Correction Officers run the place, answered to no one (not that they would listen anyway).

Corrections Officer Kevin Kessell that admitted to having sex with an inmate while on duty and for bringing contraband in exchange for what he perceived were sexual favors said fuck you to everyone and joined the marine corp – and is now being protected from prosecution and civil action because of his military status, but hopefully that won’t last long with the West Virginia Secret Seven Coalition coming after his ass to hold him accountable for his crimes!!

Terry miller was the head honcho at the time I was subsequently arrested on the drug charges and he had a blind eye to everything that goes on either above or below the line of legality.

The guards at the regional jail were paid to bring in drugs cigarettes or whatever they could get by with depending on the times, and depending who was in charge and running the show at that given point in time.

There were sexual relationships between guards and sexual relationships between inmates and guards at the regional jail I was in whether an inmate wanted the sex or not!

Regional Jail executive director Terry Miller was fired in October 2010.

Terry Miller let the SEX go on in the regional jail system, and was fired for his own sexual advances on jail employee’s

Miller was suspended after two female employees in the jail authority’s central office – including Miller’s former personal secretary – filed sexual harassment complaints against him.

The female workers alleged Miller made unwanted sexual advances and retaliated against them when they rebuffed his overtures, according to letters the employees’ attorney sent to the state.

It was a common occurrence to hear a cell door open at 2 am when everyone was to be in lock down. The C O’s as we called them often covered for each other as no one made a move without someone in the tower (where the main controls were ) someone had to open the cell doors from the control tower above. Every night someone’s cell was opened, as I laid in absolute fear and silence praying my door wouldn’t open until one night, my door did open in the middle of the night!

Cell checks are what the actual action taken by the guards is called in a situation where the guards came to the women prisoners long after midnight. I recognized the CO that came into my cell that night as one of the friendlier guards.

There is a lot of sex inside West Virginia jails and prison’s! Websites like the CalPatty Press that exposed the truth and those involved were attacked and threatened for telling the Truth!

 His name was John Walls an ex-cop from I believe Chesapeake. I never felt afraid of this man or even the least suspicious, he had never seemed to pose a threat to anyone.  John Walls was known around the jail as someone that was secretly handing the girls candy and gum. I could have never been more wrong about this man that turned out to be a monster, and the candy and gum thing took on a complete an utter new perspective.

I was told I was going to medical which seemed a little odd as women’s medical calls were normally around the afternoon as women inmates were to have no contact with the  male inmates.

Tammy Rucker got busted on a Meth charge and was sent to prison! She just did not know she was going to have to “Put Out” to get along! This photo taken while she was incarcerated.

On the way down the long corridor I was pulled into a “sally port ” a small room designed to securely enter a pod with 2 sliding doors on both sides, one door doesn’t open until the other is shut. These controls are all manipulated by someone else in the tower above.

What was called “the tower “was an upstairs facility that look into the pods, and usually more than one pod at a time, which I believe that would be a group of four in which a guard or C O (correctional officer) monitored pods — Cell checks are not suppose to be an action taken by the guards in which they are to touch you in anyway, even if they did suspect you of having contraband. The Sgt in charge would be called for that, but cell checks digressed into a situation where the guards came to the women prisoners long after midnight, and sometimes removed them, which is not in the manual, or is considered normal procedure by any pale of anyone’s imagination. I recognized the CO that came into my cell that night as one of the friendlier guards, as I stated before, but this night something was definitely not right, I could feel it intuitively.

As I was pulled into this ” sally port ” area I knew something was up ” there are no cameras in certain parts of the facility ” these are called BLIND SPOTS  CO Walls told me as he used his body and pushed himself into me pushing me against the wall roughly!! In a complete state of shock I froze.

I’m sure I stopped breathing and could only hear my heart beat like someone playing a drum to every beat, with his right arm he held me against the wall as his other hand slipped into my pants and his mouth covered mine.  I struggled but at a hundred pounds was no match for this upholder of justice known as a CO or Corrections Officer.

I began to cry as he penetrated me with his fingers then all of a sudden he released me and whispered in a voice that made me shiver …

“This isn’t over, you’re going to be here for a long time you will beg for it before it’s over!“

He pushed the tower button and led me sobbing back to my cell!

I had been there no more than six weeks at the time of this vicious sexual attack that both hurt my mind and my body, for there is something terribly wrong about being held a prisoner, and then sexually abused. The misuse of power is not only terribly wrong, but leaves you with a sense of violation that is hard to describe in words.

For quite a while after that sexual attack, that froze me in fear and terrified me to the bone, I often asked myself  … “Am I such a horrible person that I deserved this? Were my poor judgments pertaining to drugs so bad that I should live in fear and be tortured?”

My answer to myself then was … “If I hadn’t done the things I did, or been involved in the drug world and ran with questionable associates I wouldn’t be here to have to go through this ordeal!” I blamed myself! In my mind I was questioning truly if I deserved what had happened to me by the awful man and jail guard.

The torment, the degradation, the hate I suddenly felt for myself and life altogether was more than I could bare being locked in a prison night after night, a prison more horrible than anything I could have ever imagined when I was on the outside, with my fast friends, going fast, and doing drugs!

Every night I waited for the cell door to slide open, I slept during the day and bit my nails to bloody nubs every night as every sound, every footstep brought a special hell that struck down deep to my very soul!!

“Just then, after the explosion of being smacked across the face, and then consoled like a little girl that fell down which was a situation that was making my head spin Kessell just disappeared as fast as he appeared in my cell,”said Tammy Rucker about CO Kessell shown in this photo.

Days went by with no further incident from the CO that violated me sexually, but then word came down that he was assigned outside the facility on hospital duty. (that is a situation when an inmate is in the hospital and is secured around the clock with an armed escort)

The inmate was a female and had reported to hospital staff that she was forced to have oral sex with CO Walls while at the hospital. An internal investigation began and he never returned to duty. A lot of rumors started, but as far as I know no charges were ever filed.

“I thought that finally the nightmare was over for me, however, little did I know at the time, the Nightmare of being incarcerated in a West Virginia Regional Jail had really only just begun!”

After hearing about the sexual assault of the fellow-female inmate, I filed a grievance and explained that sexual misconduct involving that same corrections officer had also occurred with me!

A grievance goes up the chain of command to the head CO and if warranted up to the branches to Terry Miller the administrator of the regional jail authority. I was called into the head CO’s  office to discuss the grievance where I was pretty much interrogated and finally dismissed after several hours and never heard another word until I was contacted by the other girls attorney in regard to the sexual assault on her. At this point, because of the veiled threats made to me in the administrative office, and the contact from the attorney, I was in great fear of any retaliation from the very guards and corrections officer that were sworn to uphold the law. Because of the threats from the jail authority, I soon learned to keep my mouth shut, and was left alone for a short while, but that situation didn’t last long!

One night a voice quietly whispered over the intercom in my cell I heard …  “You are so sexy in the shower Miss Rucker… “

Little did I know at the time the real nightmare had just begun, and the nightmare, that I had previously lived through was about to travel to new heights of terror!

I asked who I was speaking to, moments passed before he answered ,” It’s me CO Kessell,” he replied. “Come closer to the box so no one will hear us! “

And  just then, my cell door slid shut!

For those that don’t know in every cell is an intercom box to the tower for emergencies such as fights or any other reason to speak to the CO  in the tower. The way the tower is laid out they can see both showers in the pod and obstructing any visible points including the showers is a write up (violation) and could land you in isolation .

I knew who CO Kevin Kessell was. He was young and thin and very cocky about himself.  Kessell was always bragging about the car he was driving  a mustang or something to that effect.

Kessell was also dating a female CO,  her last name I believe was Seymore. She was  young and athletic, but like him, very cocky and sure of herself  and also judgmental of others.

Rumor was they were on again and off again, a rocky relationship to say the least….

All inmates had daily contact with the CO’s  they delivered our food, escorted us to visits, to medical, delivered our mail, and did cell checks at least three times a day. It’s not like you could avoid those corrections officers when you are an inmate in a West Virginia Regional Jail.

CO Kessell at first played  like a good guy, but no one was stupid he told me how John Walls told the other CO’s that I belonged to him and didn’t want anyone else to mess with me, he then asked if he had ever hurt me. I couldn’t bring myself to answer that question and he didn’t force the issue, Kessell at first didn’t seem like the arrogant cocky person he truly is, at that time.

At first Kessell talked a lot about life in general, and then, that led to the rumors going around the jail about who was having SEX with whom, and the trouble that was unfolding within the facility.

At this time I was in general population “A” pod which consisted of convicted felons waiting for prison, we talked almost every day he worked. CO Kessell would bring me extra clothes and rolled up inside were cigarettes, a lighter and liquor!

Every day at the jail, I thought he was just being my friend, and most likely I should have known this bringing me comforts one would find at home would also come with a price, that possibly had a penis attached. And that attachment to the price was not a situation I ever thought I would find myself in, and as a woman sex is something you should enjoy with your partner not something a jail guard takes from you because he feels you owe it to him.

One night CO Kessell wasn’t there with the goodies and it was as normal as a regional jail could be when they suddenly locked everyone down . Nobody knew what was going on .The next morning Kessell told me that two male inmates were put on the recreation yard from lock down with one of the females from protective custody already out there ,she was raped and beaten by both of them!

The CO’s claimed it was night time and they didn’t know, or some farfetched excuse that made no sense. Nobody, not any prisoner, or inmate, should be raped by other inmates, but especially if you are someone that is in protective custody. Also, as a general rule anyone in protective custody is never to be left unattended. Obviously someone wanted this inmate harmed, and harmed she was. Brutally raped by two male inmates and beaten and abused, which has a serious effect on a person’s mental condition while incarcerated.

Sexual assaults in the West Virginia Regional Jail system are covered up even to a greater extent than the cover up and rapes of female students at Glenville State College! The WV SS is pretty fucking sick of the cover ups by criminal jail officials and GSC staff that are involved!!

Charges were filed against the two inmates that raped the female in PC and the officers were put on leave. I later heard she settled for an unknown amount against the regional jail and was released.

 Around that same time, I also noticed my situation of being brought contraband by CO Kessell was growing a bit awkward. Kessell would scream at me for what seemed no reason He would accuse me of things, and he would ask questions about matters that I considered none of his business. Kessell went through my mail (which is checked for contraband  and opened) and he found a letter my ex had wrote, this was the first time I saw the monster within.

One night not long after the rape of the woman in protective custody at about 3am my cell door slid open. I was groggy and still half asleep. I stood up from my cot just in time to catch a back hand to the face landing me square in the eye!! I felt the swelling start immediately! It was CO Kessell! He grabbed me by hair and pulled me to him hard against his chest and starting saying how sorry he was, and that I shouldn’t have communication with anyone from my past, as if that was any of his business!

 I didn’t realize the tears streaming down my face until he started trying to kiss them away!

Just then, after the explosion of being smacked across the face, and then consoled like a little girl that fell down, which was a situation that was making my head spin, Kessell just disappeared as fast as he appeared in my cell.

I was in a state of shock! It all happened so fast, I was just trying to gather in all that was happening,  by now all I could think was … “What the hell just happened ?”

“That low-life monster CO Kessell had finally showed his true colors. I couldn’t run I couldn’t tell!  I was confused about everything and couldn’t believe all that was happening as it was happening all around me … I laid on my mat and thought that one day I would go home no matter what happened in here!”

The next day at cell check one of the other guards, a female CO noticed my swollen and bruised face, she insisted on knowing what happened.  I said nothing, hung my head and refused  to speak. I know her compassion to be real, however I had seen the realization of retaliation far too many times. I would say nothing !

For my own protection jail authorities then concluded, I should be sent to isolation, locked down 23 hrs out of the day. Three CO’s escorted me to the lock down pod, no witnesses and I found myself at the mercy of the facility.

From here on in every day seemed like a bad dream I could now wake up from. I wish I could put in words how awful it is to be locked up all alone, being haunted by what bad thing might happen to me next, and just when I was the most spooked, I could see the guards coming, and then my cell would open as I was told to shower! If I  refused  I would often find myself handcuffed to the fire escape on the recreation yard at 3 am, I  remembered the girl that was beaten and raped  on the rec yard  is that going to happen to me?

I also could be denied phone privileges, and if I did not do what was requested by the CO or guard. CO Kessell rewarded me with cigarettes fast food or bourbon or anything to ease his conscience for what he was doing, and all the while, I didn’t know I was being seduced into sexual relations that were very unwanted on my end of things.

It wasn’t long before Co Kessell would come to my cell, and of course now I was more isolated so he his effort mixed with sugar coated words took the abuse to a sexual touching level.

By this time of my incarceration,  I had learned to survive all the horrible things done to me by making myself numb to the sexual things that were being forced on me.

I can’t really truly tell you all how difficult it is for me to even speak of my ordeal. I hope that none of you have to go through being sexually assaulted inside a West Virginia Regional Jail, for it is a living hell on earth. The sounds of the sex are horrifying, along with the visual aspects and the touching.

Sex can be a three dimensional hell when in a jail atmosphere and environment, so I just closed my eyes and, I imagined my family and going home someday, maybe, and I thought about Glenda the good witch of the north, and Dorothy who was lost and how I knew she was just something you saw in the movies, but really she really knew there was no place like home … no place like home, so I just endured what was being forced on me and tried not to vomit everywhere and make a mess of my surroundings.

CO Kevin Kessell, Mr Tough Guy when it comes to beating on the women when they are locked up and vulnerable, is shown with gal pal, and Kessell’s girlfriend was also a CO at the same regional jail. Rape, and sex are a problem in the West Virginia Jail System.

“Then came the night I feared most when CO Kessell entered my cell with a crazed look in his eye! I knew at that moment I might never go home. Kessell burst into my cell in a fit of jealous rage and was convinced I was talking to another CO!!  He pushed me into the wall I threw up in my hand while trying to defend myself as best I could. Kessell grabbed my hand and twisted it!” 

“I literally heard the bones pop in my hand as the pain took me to my knees he kicked me with his boot landing in my ribs, and then CO Kessell spit on me and left!”

After the attack by CO Kessell I had no idea what was going on. I tried to gather it all in, what he was screaming about, but I had no idea what it was all about really. I had not spoken with any other CO, and then the next day he seemed calmed down, but acting strangely, while my hand started to shake just thinking about it all. I started to shake and could not stop.

Kessell came into my cell again, and this time he asked me to shower, but with another girl. I was so glad I was not going to get beaten or roughly grabbed sexually, that I didn’t argue or fight it. I just did what was asked of me. The other female inmate and I danced for him and finally he told us to return to our cells and brought us contraband as a reward. I never felt so humiliated in all my life! The dancing nude was every bit as bad as the sex, and this time, I could start to feel myself slip mentally, I was in dire need of some counseling, but how could I get counseling while being held a prisoner and made to perform awful acts?

“I looked down one morning, just before being fed breakfast and my hand was still somewhat disfigured. My thumb was dislocated and completely out of joint and it would stay that way for quite some time!”

“There was no way I could go to medical and try to explain this, or I would be beaten and raped by male inmates after being taken to the rec yard at 3am and handcuffed like that girl that was brutally assaulted, for everyone knew that was a set up!”.

“Night after night, again and again, there was no one to tell, nowhere to run and no way to fight back!”

One  late night as CO Kessell was leaving my cell the nurse (Laura) and a female guard (nurses are escorted through the facility) caught him leaving my cell and there was a report filed and he told me to tell them he was bringing me something and I did. There was no way out for me I thought of ending my own life a few times but thought to myself if I do leave this world it won’t be at my own hands!

Like a BAD MOON rising, the day came when I realized I was late with my monthly. I cringed at the thought of possibly being pregnant with the baby of CO Kessell. I had been incarcerated for over the limit of coming in pregnant, so we are talking about close to a year now at five weeks late.

I told Kessell, that I thought I was pregnant with his child. Within two weeks he quit his job  as a corrections officer and went to work with the Charleston fire dept. Still no period came and then one nite at Med call I confided in a nurse that I needed a pregnancy test. I will never forget the look on her face! She was with a female CO and I was taken directly to medical and on the way they asked me who the father was, possibly thinking it was another inmate.

I told them with an  emotionless straight face “its a CO.” This rang some bells on the way to the medical infirmary because this was the same nurse who saw Kessell leaving my cell.

A lil want to be fairy foo foo C O Kevin Kessell admitted to sexual misconduct while a Corrections Officer in the WV Regional Jail System. The State of WV and even the State Police work to cover up these acts as best they can, which in an of its self is criminal.

All of a sudden I guess everything fell into place and suddenly made sense to the nurses and jail authorities. For right at this moment in time they realized they were going to be exposed for something horrible, a rape in jail that resulted in a pregnancy,  and if this information ever got out, it could really do some damage.

This time the truth was certainly long overdue. I no longer cared about repercussions or retaliation from CO Kessell’s jail authority friends or co conspirators. I made it through all of this and there was nothing anyone at the jail could do to me that hadn’t been done already.

The medical staff took some blood for the pregnancy test and informed me it would take a few days to get the results. Meanwhile the State police made a half-assed effort to take a statement from me. In the next room was CO Kessell himself and he gave a confession, but did not tell everything, but did tell enough to get him arrested. Kessell was bonded out before the doors ever shut behind him.

Kessell joined the military shortly before I was shipped to prison. The test came back negative and I was given medicine (to treat anxiety they said).

I started my period the same day I got the news of the negative test, which turned out to be most painful of all days strangely enough. I was locked in a cell alone, staring out the window for what seemed like forever, I wasn’t allowed visits from my family nor mail from anyone, and I never felt so all alone, the entire time I had been incarcerated as I felt at that moment.

After an ordeal almost too horrible for regular folk to imagine in the little rural towns that make up the many counties in the mountainous state of West Virginia, Tammy Rucker has a nice home and enjoys time with her son shown in this picture.

When my food tray was brought to me, it was by no other than C O Seymore. Kessell’s on again off again girlfriend who now had an attitude, well needless to say I didn’t eat what she served.

I had to have surgery to put my thumb back where it was suppose to be.

I was allowed nothing for pain. Officially my injury was a slip and fall by their accounts.  I was treated badly by prison authorities, after the word got out and charges filed and seemed that things remained like that for a very long time because they could no longer hide the truth.

“I finally broke the silence ….I faced the injustice…..but I couldn’t stop it! Rape and sexual assaults are still happening in the regional jails and they are still covering it up. There are still people living in the silence just like I have had to do!”

Finally, after going through an intense RSAT program and I am clean 6 yrs now…I own a house, have a family, but the monster still steals my dreams at night!

I still hear that door shut behind me, but in the day time, in the light, I am as free as a little bird…

I look up to that little bird 
That glides across the sky 
He sings the clearest melody 
It makes me want to cry 
It makes me want to sit right down 
And cry cry cry

The Supreme Commander of the Secret Seven Coalition reports that the same day, the latest Revenge of the Ghost Wolf EXPOSE on inmates being molested in the regional jails entitled “Breaking the Silence …” was published, Friday, December 28th a former corrections officer at North Central Regional Jail was arrested for sexual misconduct with an inmate.  Now how is that for timing …

West Virginia State Police say 19-year-old Jerrel Jones of Parkersburg was arrested Friday. He was charged with six counts of imposition of sexual acts on a person incarcerated or under supervision.

State Police Trooper J.R. Barker arrested Jerrel Jones after an investigation that began Dec. 2, when State Police received a complaint that Jones had been having sex with a female inmate.

The female inmate victim said she began having sex with Jones when she was first incarcerated in early November 2012, according to a criminal complaint filed in Doddridge County Magistrate Court, but it was not her idea at all to have sex with the corrections officer. She felt she had to do it, to get along in jail and was scared.

Trooper Barker interviewed Jones, who allegedly admitted that he had  exposed and felt the breasts of the young woman and then inserted his penis into the mouth of the inmate and ejaculated, which also included other sex acts with the victim at least five times.

The arrest is the latest black eye for corrections officers. Fifteen officers are on suspension at Western Regional Jail for various charges. Another officer, William Roy Wilson, (see below) was charged in September with sexually abusing three female inmates at Southern Regional Jail.

Corrections Officer in Doddridge County Faces Sex Charges

Imprisonment Status:  Pre-Trial Felon
	Full Name:	Jones,  Jerrel  Jacob
	Height:	6’  0”
	Weight:	220 lbs.
	Birth Date:	02.24.1993
	Gender:	Male
	Booking Date:	12.28.2012
	Facility:	Central Regional Jail
	Imprisonment Status:	Pre-Trial Felon

Offender Court Order Information

Court Info Number	Issuing Agency Location
12F-65,66,67,68,69,70	DODDRIDGE COUNTY – Bail Amount: $120,000.00

Jones was arraigned Friday in Doddridge County Magistrate Court.

It was not immediately known whether he had an attorney.

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Height: 5ft 10in Weight: 240 lbs. AGE/DOB: 10/29/1984

Booked: 9/20/2012 Booking ID: 999089382

William Roy Wilson

Negro West Virginia Corrections Officer William Roy Wilson, 29, was charged with four counts of imposition of sexual acts of persons under supervision recently which included forcing white women inmates to suck his dick !

The Negro CO — jail guard charged with sexually abusing three women at a West Virginia lockup since May has been accused of misconduct before and has been sued 11 times for similar allegations, a lawyer for alleged victims said just 13 weeks ago.

William Roy Wilson, 29, of Beckley, was being held on $75,000 bond in an isolation cell (protective custody) at the same Beaver jail where he’s worked since September 2008. Just last September 2012 he was arrested  … being booked on the 20^th for sexual acts with inmates after taking some serious Beaver from the white women at Beaver jail.

State Police by some fucking miracle charged the Negro CO with four counts of imposition of sexual acts of persons under supervision, saying he gave Southern Regional jail inmates cigarettes in exchange for black dick Glenville State College style!!  It is the first criminal charge Wilson has faced, said jail authorities , although several civil suits have been filed against him.

Attorney Mike Woelfel, who has sued correctional official’s dozens of times for sexual assault and harassment in West Virginia facilities, said the civil cases against Wilson go back to 2010. Two were settled for terms Woelfel said he could not disclose, and nine are still pending in Kanawha County Circuit Court, but why in the hell jail authorities still kept him employed is anybody’s guess, other than what the fuck else can you expect from some dumb fucking West Virginia Public Officials that are nothing but West Virginia University KNOW IT ALL — KNOW NOTHINGS like Steve Canterbury Administrative Director of the West Virginia Supreme Court that make their own rules and don’t consider  themselves or the state of West Virginia part of the rest of the United States of America, and feel no need to follow normal laws and mores.

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The above article has been a Central West Virginia Secret Seven Coalition publication published on the 28th of December 2012 in conjunction with Tammy Rucker-Baisden and Dan Bingman all rights reserved. ©

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