Police are investigating whether the officers had sex with inmates at the county jail.

Utah law makes it a third-degree felony for Corrections officers to have sex with inmates. The offense is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Although the officers have resigned and the Sheriff's Office has completed an internal investigation, the sheriff refused Tuesday to release their names.

Officials are releasing few details about the allegations, but Hurricane assistant police Chief Shayne Copeland said there's no indication the two cases are directly linked. Copeland said the Washington County Sheriff's Office asked his department on March 16 to investigate whether a corrections worker and prisoner had sexual contact. The county jail is located in Hurricane.

Copeland said someone first contacted the sheriff's office about claims a woman inmate had sexual contact with a guard. That woman has been interviewed and is cooperating, Copeland said. He declined to share what the woman has said.

"It's all an allegation at this time," Copeland said.

Then on Saturday, the sheriff's office contacted St. George police and asked them to investigate whether a corrections officer had sexual contact with an inmate in that town's city limits, said St. George police Sgt. Craig Harding. The detective on the case hoped to finish his investigation today, Harding said.

"He has yet to interview people to find out the number of victims and the number of charges."

Copeland said he hoped to finish his investigation by Friday. Investigators at both agencies will submit reports to the Beaver County Attorney, who will decide whether to file criminal charges.

Washington County Undersheriff Bart Bailey said one of the officers resigned March 21 and another March 22 because of the allegations against them. An internal investigation is finished, Bailey said.

ncarlisle@sltrib.com

Hearing set in case

of inmate's death in jail

In December 2004, family members of an inmate who died while being held at the Washington County jail filed a federal lawsuit against the county and various employees. Their suit claims that 54-year-old Raymond Boyett never received a prompt court hearing after his arrest on a drunken-driving charge, was denied medication he needed because of a recent hernia operation and was sodomized immediately before he died on Sept. 6, 2003. The legal action includes claims of civil rights violations and wrongful death and seeks unspecified monetary damages.

The defendants have denied all the allegations and say an autopsy shows that Boyett died of coronary artery disease, a condition that no one knew he had.

A hearing on the county's request for a judgment in its favor is scheduled for Thursday before U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell. Many of the claims and defendants already have been dismissed in the case.

- Pamela Manson