Judge Orders Prisoner Out Of Solitary

A federal judge has ordered state prison officials to remove inmate Mark D. Tapp from solitary confinement, saying he believed Tapp was being punished for complaining publicly that he was sexually molested by a guard.

Following Friday’s order, Tapp was taken out of the cell where he had been held alone virtually around the clock for three months and returned to the general prison population at the Idaho State Correctional Institution. He is scheduled to be paroled Dec. 11.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill said there was “strong circumstantial evidence” that Idaho Department of Correction officials retaliated against the 26-year-old inmate after he complained to The Idaho Statesman about the guard’s history of sexual misconduct.

The order came at the end of a two-day hearing at which Tapp sought an emergency order releasing him from solitary confinement.

The decision does not resolve Tapp’s broader complaint that guard Roy M. Redifer of Nampa and six other Correction Department officials contributed to an atmosphere allowing Redifer to sexually molest him earlier this year at the prison south of Boise.

Correction Department spokesman Mark Carnopis said the agency “wasn’t particularly disappointed” with the decision. And he reiterated the department’s position that Tapp was sentenced to six months in solitary confinement for refusing to cooperate in an internal investigation.

Redifer, 51, has been on medical leave of absence since Tapp’s complaints first surfaced on June 3. The Correction Department continues to investigate Redifer, and the FBI has launched an inquiry of its own. Redifer has refused to talk about the allegations.