Prisoner Transport Officer Eric Kindley Sexually Assaulted Women in His Custody. He Got Life in Prison.

 

Private Prisoner Transport Officer Eric Kindley Sexually Assaulted Women in His Custody

Eric Scott Kindley ran a private inmate transportation company that contracted with law enforcement agencies to move people in custody across the country.

That job gave him extraordinary control over the women he transported.

They were handcuffed. Shackled. Far from home. And completely dependent on him.

Federal prosecutors proved that Kindley used that power to sexually assault women in his custody.

In 2020, a federal jury convicted him of depriving two women of their civil rights under color of law, including their right to bodily integrity, and of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime.

In 2021, Kindley was sentenced to life in federal prison plus an additional consecutive five years.

The two women in the federal prosecution were not the only ones who accused him. Prosecutors alleged a broader pattern spanning years, and Kindley also faced civil lawsuits involving other women he transported.

These women were prisoners, but they were still human beings with an absolute right to bodily autonomy.

Custody is not consent. Handcuffs are not consent. A prisoner is not property.