A sex offender who identifies as female and is being held in a men’s prison has admitted to groping two prison officers as he was served food in a cell.
Katana Paris, 27, who was then serving a three-year prison sentence for assaulting a nurse, assaulted the men and women of staff at HMP Forest Bank in Manchester last year.
The first police officer, a woman, was having breakfast in the Paris cell, with the help of two inmates, when the attacker walked towards her and touched her inappropriately.
The next day, Paris reached through the hatch in the cell door and grabbed the genitals of a male officer as he attempted to serve lunch.
Paris admitted two counts of sexual assault at Manchester Crown Court and was sentenced to an additional six months.
Katana Paris, 27, admitted to groping two prison guards while being served food in prison
Paris assaulted male and female staff at HMP Forest Bank in Manchester last year
Prosecutor Megan Edwards said Paris, who uses female pronouns, was remanded to jail for a misdemeanor sexual assault.
On the day of the incident, a prison guard was on duty for breakfast around 7:50 a.m.
Ms Edwards said: ‘She approached the defendant’s cell and unlocked the door in order to serve him his breakfast.
“She came out of the cell, which was unusual, as prisoners normally stay in their cell.
“She asked the defendant to step back, but his request was ignored. The accused then placed a hand on her hand, before slipping her fingers between her knuckles.
The officer walked away and the two helping prisoners delivered breakfast to Paris.
The accused then “jumped up and down”, as if “excited”, before moving towards the woman and touching her genitals.
“She didn’t say anything while doing this, but she was shocked and in disbelief that she deliberately touched her in this way,” the prosecutor added.
One of the prisoners, according to the court, said to the policeman: “Did she just touch your…”
The officer replied, “Yes, she just touched me. Not wanting the rest of the inmates to know what had happened, the prison guard continued to serve breakfast before reporting the incident.
Paris, who uses female pronouns, was in pretrial detention for sexual assault
The next day, a custody officer was serving lunch when he walked into Paris’ cell, described as being “quite aggressive”.
As he opened the trapdoor to his door and passed the food through, Paris reached out with her right hand and grabbed his genitals.
“He immediately felt violated and used the strength of his body to push her back into her cell,” Ms Edwards said.
Paris, who was convicted of 87 offences, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for shooting a nurse towards her genitals while she was in hospital, the court heard.
Mitigatingly, Rochelle Collins said her client suffered from mental health issues and emotional regularity issues at the time.
“She is extremely remorseful and tells me this happened at a time when her mental health was at an all-time low,” she said.
“She doesn’t want to continue with this kind of behavior. No other complaints were filed during his detention.
At sentencing, Judge Nicholas Dean KC, Manchester Registrar, said: “Prison officers are put in a vulnerable position – they are portrayed as emergency workers.
“They are in a position where they are vulnerable to these kinds of attacks and they deserve and need the protection of the courts when such attacks occur.”
“I have read and reviewed a pre-sentence report and I am not convinced that you have shown significant remorse.
“It seems to me that you regard what you have done as rather insignificant.
Paris, is now at HMP Swaleside in Kent and will be on the sex offender register for five years.
