Correction officer charged with rape after allegedly having sex with inmate

Crime

The 37-year-old former correction officer allegedly had intercourse with the inmate in a caseworker’s office while on duty.

By Darin Zullo

September 21, 2025 | 10:52 AM

1 minute to read

A former correction officer at the South Bay House of Correction is facing a rape charge after he had sexual intercourse with an inmate, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

William Cooper, 37, of Boston, was arraigned Friday in Suffolk Superior Court on one charge of rape of a person in custody, the DA’s office said in a statement. Cooper allegedly had sex with the inmate while on duty at the jail, according to officials.

Prosecutors say that Cooper and the prisoner had intercourse July 7 in a vacant caseworker’s office near the inmate’s cell. Cooper attempted to block the view into the office from the hallway by taping trash bags to a window, according to the DA’s office.

The next day, investigators at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department received a complaint from a third party, according to officials. Though the inmate initially denied having physical contact with Cooper during their 10 minutes in the office for fear of retribution, they later described the sexual encounter in detail after being moved out of the facility, according to the statement.

Cooper, who had worked at South Bay for two months, denied the allegations during an interview, but his claims were disproven by surveillance footage, according to prosecutors. Massachusetts law states that prisoners in custody of law enforcement officers are unable to consent to sexual intercourse.

“The sheriff’s office moved quickly on the information they received about this incident and, with effective help from Boston police, built a solid set of facts,” District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in the statement. “Detainees are in custody for specific reasons, but they are certainly not there to be victimized by the persons guarding them.”

Cooper was ordered held on $5,000 bail and is due back in court Oct. 17, the DA’s office said. Michael Maloney, Cooper’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday morning.