Correction officer indicted after engaging in sexual act with inmate
BOSTON, September 19, 2025 – A former South Bay House of Correction officer was arraigned today in Suffolk Superior Court for engaging in sexual intercourse with an inmate in the jail, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced.
WILLIAM COOPER, 37, of Boston was charged with one count of rape of a person in custody. Clerk Magistrate Courtney Doherty ordered Cooper held on $5,000 bail. Cooper is due back in court on October 17 for a pre-trial conference.
During the arraignment, prosecutors said that on July 7, Cooper, while on duty as a correction officer at the Suffolk County South Bay House of Correction, had intercourse with a prisoner in a vacant caseworker office near the prisoner’s cell. Before the encounter, Cooper taped trash bags to a window to block the view into the office from the hallway.
Suffolk sheriff’s investigators received a complaint from a third party the day after the encounter and began an investigation. The prisoner initially denied having any physical contact with Cooper during their 10 minutes together in the office but then described the sexual act after being moved out of the facility and no longer fearing retribution.
Cooper had worked at South Bay for two months. He was interviewed and denied being in the office with the prisoner – a claim disproved by surveillance video.
Hayden praised the “diligent and coordinated” work by the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department and Boston police as “instrumental” in leading to the indictment and arrest of Cooper.
Massachusetts law states that a person under the custody of a law enforcement officer is incapable of consenting to sexual intercourse.
“The sheriff’s office moved quickly on the information they received about this incident and, with effective help from Boston police, build a solid set of facts. Detainees are in custody for specific reasons, but they are certainly not there to be victimized by the persons guarding them, “Hayden said.
All charged individuals are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office serves the communities of Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop. Our office handles more than 20,000 cases a year. Nearly 160 assistant district attorneys practice in nine district and municipal courts, Suffolk Superior Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the Boston and Chelsea Juvenile Courts and the Supreme Judicial Court. Our office employs some 300 people and offers a wide range of services and programs for anyone encountering the criminal justice system. We are committed to educating the public about our mission and services while focusing on crime prevention to keep the residents, workers and visitors of Suffolk County safe.
James Borghesani, Chief of Communications