Former Prison Psychologist Acknowledges Prison Sex with Inmate

From the Fresno Bee

A former prison psychologist this week acknowledged having sex with an inmate she was hired to help at California State Prison, Sacramento.

Marilyn A. Windham, 56, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony charge of having sex with a male inmate at the Folsom prison in June 2005. A bodybuilder and aspiring crime novelist, Windham is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 2. She faces 90 days in county jail.

Court documents show a prison guard discovered the psychologist partially nude and "in a compromising position" with an inmate in the B Facility Clinic.

The inmate told investigators that he went to the room to get supplies "and that it 'just happened,'" according to court documents. He said the act was consensual and had not occurred before.

Windham resigned about a month after the incident. She sent the inmate a card saying, "I want you to know how much I enjoyed knowing you. You made me laugh."

The psychologist had initially faced three felony counts, said Steve Secrest, a supervising deputy district attorney in Sacramento County.

Windham has a public MySpace page and described herself as an "existential psychologist," according to The Sacramento Bee.

"Dr. Windham believes in the significance of the relationship between client and doctor," she wrote on the Internet space.

The MySpace page in question has since been made private