- William Cordoba, 57, is serving a life sentence at San Quentin State Prison for a 1981 second-degree murder and robbery
- Cordoba sued Silvia Pulido, a vocational instructor at the prison, accusing her of coercing him into sex acts in exchange for legal help
- When Cordoba tried to break up with Pulido, he said she retaliated and caused him to end up in solitary confinement for nine months
Inmate’s victory: Convicted murderer William Cordoba, 57 (pictured) has been awarded $65,000 in damages after a federal jury found that a female prison worker had turned him into her sex slave
A federal jury has awarded $65,000 to a convicted murderer in California’s San Quentin State Prison after finding he was turned into a ‘sex slave’ by a female prison worker.
Inmate William Cordoba sued vocational instructor Silvia Pulido. He claimed the woman coerced him into trading sex acts after promising to get him a lawyer to help him get out of prison.
The 57-year-old said the sexual abuse began in 2010 when he became her clerk.
Cordoba claimed that when he tried to end his relationship with the prison staffer after learning that she was allegedly involved with another prisoner, Pulido retaliated by accusing him of disciplinary violations that put him in solitary confinement for nine months, reported San Francisco Chronicle.
Cordoba argued that the experience left him in need of psychiatric help and in 2012 sued Pulido, alleging cruel and unusual punishment.
The 57-year-old said the sexual abuse began in 2010 when he became a clerk at Silvia Pulidos’ office at San Quentin State Prison in California (pictured)
The unusual civil rights case went to trial last month. After six days of testimony, an eight-person jury found for Cordoba, awarding to him more than $15,000 in compensatory damages and $50,000 in punitive damages.
‘All people have a right to be free from sexual abuse, that includes women and that includes men, and that doesn’t change because the person is incarcerated,’ said attorney Julia Allen, who helped represent Cordoba.
Pulido no longer works at the prison. During the trial, her defense lawyer claimed the plaintiff was ‘delusional.’
Cordoba is serving a life sentence for a 1981 second-degree murder and robbery in San Francisco.