Two TDCJ Officers Relieved of Duty After Sexual Assault Allegations at Hospital Galveston

Two correctional officers assigned to Hospital Galveston, the TDCJ's acute-care prison hospital at 701 Harborside Drive, have been relieved of duty after two different female inmates independently alleged they were sexually assaulted at the facility, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice confirmed.

The first allegation emerged in March 2026, when a female inmate reported she had been assaulted by two correctional officers. Staff were notified the same day. After that report became known within the facility, a second inmate came forward to describe a separate assault she said occurred in January 2026. The second woman identified one of the accused officers by name and the other by physical description, with both matching the officers named in the first incident. A third officer referenced in the second allegation is currently off duty for an unrelated reason.

One of the inmates who has publicly claimed she was assaulted is Celeste Beard Johnson, a convicted murderer housed at the facility.

TDCJ and its Office of the Inspector General have opened simultaneous criminal and administrative investigations. Both officers remain relieved of duty; no charges have been publicly announced.

The allegations carry particular weight because TDCJ policy explicitly prohibits male correctional officers from being alone with female inmates and bans cross-gendered unclothed searches. How the alleged assaults occurred despite those stated policies is central to what investigators are examining. The agency said it will evaluate its procedures once the investigations are complete.

Hospital Galveston occupies a singular position in American corrections: it is the only prison hospital in the country located on the campus of a major university medical center, sharing grounds with the University of Texas Medical Branch. The eight-story facility opened in June 1983 at a construction cost of $40 million, was authorized by the 65th Texas Legislature in 1977, and currently holds up to 365 offenders of all custody levels undergoing intensive medical treatment. It handles more than 120 outpatients daily across 45 specialty and subspecialty clinics.

Dr. Amite Dominick, founder of Texas Prisons Community Advocates, said the allegations reflect a pattern reaching well beyond this facility. "Women who are incarcerated are oftentimes the forgotten, overlooked population within a system that throws individuals away," Dominick said. "They've been subject to sexual abuse and harm for decades." Advocates are pressing for stronger oversight and broader legal resource access for incarcerated women.

Under the Prison Rape Elimination Act, signed by President George W. Bush on September 4, 2003, any sexual abuse allegation received by TDCJ's PREA Ombudsman Office is automatically referred to the Inspector General for possible criminal investigation. TDCJ's own 2023 Safe Prisons/PREA Program Report recorded 847 inmate-on-inmate sexual assault allegations systemwide in that year alone; staff-on-inmate cases are tracked and investigated on a separate channel.

The OIG's involvement ensures the inquiry proceeds independently of the hospital's internal chain of command, a structural protection that advocates say is critical given the power dynamics at play inside any correctional medical facility.