Pa. State Police charge inmate with raping another inmate at SCI Albion in Erie County

In what has been a rarity in the Erie County court system, an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Albion has been charged with raping another inmate.

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

Sierra is charged with five counts: the first-degree felonies of rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, the second-degree felonies of aggravated indecent assault and assault by prisoner and the first-degree misdemeanor of indecent assault.

The state police investigated after the other inmate reported that he had been assaulted, according to the criminal complaint. The complaint states that the police interviewed Sierra, and that "he denied the allegation of raping the victim and further denied any sexual activity ever taking place between he and the victim."

A DNA analysis of the rape kit in the case revealed Sierra's DNA, according to the complaint.

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

Sierra is serving a sentence of 20 to 60 years. He was convicted in 1998 at a jury trial in Lebanon County of a series of charges, including three counts of attempted homicide, six counts of aggravated assault, three counts of arson and eight counts of robbery, according to court records.

State report tracks inmate rape allegations

The Erie County District Attorney's Office, which is handling the prosecution of Sierra in the rape case, has seen few prison rape cases over the past several years, District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz said. She said the most recent case is believed to have been prosecuted during the pandemic.

The 40,600-inmate Pennsylvania state prison system received 135 allegations of inmate-on-inmate nonconsensual sexual acts, which includes a definition that encompasses rape, in 2022, according to the most recent report the state Department of Corrections filed under the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003.

Seven allegations were found to be substantiated, according to the report. The other allegations were determined to be unsubstantiated (64) or unfounded (33) or remain under investigation (31).

At the 1,990-inmate SCI Albion in 2022, the prison recorded a total of 47 allegations of inmate-on-inmate nonconsensual sexual acts, abusive sexual contact or sexual harassment, according to the Prison Rape Elimination Act report, which does not break down the allegations by category.

Five of those allegations were determined to be substantiated, 21 were unsubstantiated, seven were unfounded and 14 remain under investigation, according to the report.

Federal law designed to reduce prison rape

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

Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act, known as PREA, "to address the problem of sexual abuse of persons in the custody of U.S. correctional agencies," according to the U.S. Justice Department's National Institute of Justice.

The act calls for federal, state and local prison systems "to have a zero-tolerance policy regarding prison rape (as defined by PREA) in prisons, jails, police lock-ups and other confinement facilities," according to the institute.

The state police investigated the case against Sierra using procedures established under PREA, according to the criminal complaint.

ContactEd Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com or 814-870-1813. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: SCI Albion prisoner charged with raping another inmate in rare case