Former jail officer sentenced for sexual assault of Tri-Cities inmate
A former Benton County corrections officer provided a simple apology after he used his position to sexually assault an inmate.
“I would like to apologize to everyone for my conduct,” Kevin L. Bell, 43, said during his sentencing on Wednesday.
Bell, who worked in the Kennewick jail for nearly five years, pleaded guilty to second-degree custodial sexual misconduct, a felony, last December.
It’s illegal for a corrections officer to have any kind of sexual contact with an inmate whether it is consensual or not, according to Washington state law.
The crime carried between six months and a year in jail. Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to recommend the minimum end of the sentencing range.
The woman who had been cornered and harassed by Bell, and eventually forced to touch him inappropriately, told a Department of Corrections interviewer that she didn’t feel that was long enough.
She said the entire ordeal led her back into problems with drugs and a prison sentence. While in prison, she was threatened by other inmates for being a “snitch.”
“She feels that anyone she is supposed to trust, she can’t trust,” the report said.
Deputy Prosecutor Holai Holbrook told Judge Bronson Brown that the experience had damaged the woman’s trust in authority figures and the justice system.
Bell’s attorney, Mitchell Crook, told Brown that the proposed sentence would also carry a year of community custody and years and years of consequences.
“It’s also fair in light of the conduct,” Crook said. “Mr. Bell is extremely remorseful. He’s been remorseful from day one. It’s something that he has deeply reflected on and accepts responsibility.”
Brown said he struggled with giving Bell the minimum sentence saying that Bell’s actions compromised the entire criminal justice system.
“The court is struggling with the bottom of the range because of the effects this crime has had on the victim,” Brown said. “A person who is incarcerated should not be subjected to sexual assault by a corrections officer.”
He agreed to sentence Bell to the minimum end of the range because Bell will have a year of probation and be required to participate in sexual deviancy treatment.
“I hope this never happens again with any corrections staff,” Brown said.
Bell had been held in the Franklin County jail after pleading guilty. He was transferred to the Walla Walla County jail after the sentence.
This came after Benton County commissioners announced they would end an agreement with Franklin County for using their jail.
Sexual assault in the jail
Bell’s career in corrections started in Arkansas, and he’s worked in prisons and jails across the country, including spending time in Arizona and California before coming to Benton County.
The victim came forward in February 2024 about two incidents that happened in December 2023, court documents said.
She told investigators she didn’t initially report the incident, until she found out Bell allegedly acted inappropriately with another inmate, according to court documents.
Bell summoned the inmate from her work in the laundry room to an office on the third floor of the jail on Dec. 20, 2023.
When she started to leave, Bell came up behind her and pressed himself against her and said that he wanted to have sex with her, according to court documents.
Later that evening, Bell summoned her again. When she arrived, he was coming out of a break room restroom.
He pointed out his exposed genitalia and made her touch him.
Over the next two months, Bell allegedly tried several more times to get the same woman alone, making sexual remarks to her, according to court documents.
The woman, who was serving time for a drug offense, came forward on Feb. 20, triggering the investigation.