A state investigation found that an inmate was sexually assaulted at the juvenile detention center in Casper and that staff and supervisors did not report it to the facility's administrators or the Department of Family Services, according to a department letter released Tuesday.

The letter, addressed to the president of the company operating the center at the time of the allegations, said the department had also confirmed the sexual assault happened when staff members were all in an intake room, "leaving the juveniles understaffed."

In addition, the department substantiated an allegation that the staff made inmates clean up blood and vomit.

"Upon further interviews with staff and juveniles, the department concluded that it was a 'common practice' for the facility to use the transition level students to clean up messes ranging from food spills to urine, vomit and blood in the facility," according to the May 20 letter, which was sent to Frontier Correctional Systems President John Harrison. "They were rewarded with a soda and/or a small bag of chips."

However, the department could not confirm that staff belittled and threatened an inmate who was allegedly sexually assaulted.

"After interviewing the juvenile, the staff member in question and several possible witnesses, it was unclear the exact nature of the incident due to various accounts that had taken place," said the letter, which was from Kim Harmon of the Department of Family Services' youth licensing office.

Harrison did not return a message seeking comment.

The DFS letter was included among hundreds of pages of documents released by the agency in response to a public records request by the Casper Star-Tribune. The request was made after the department confirmed in mid-April that it had begun investigating allegations of abuse and neglect at the center.

The department began its investigation of the Regional Juvenile Detention Center after receiving the allegations on March 24. Since that time, a Colorado company assumed operations from Frontier.

Up to 40 juvenile offenders, ages 12 to 17, are housed at the center, which is in the Hall of Justice in downtown Casper.

As it began the takeover of the detention center, that company, Cornerstone Programs Corp., found the facility lacked an effective system for identifying high-risk youth, increasing the likelihood of serious incidents, according to company documents that were also released Tuesday.

The sexual assault allegations came to light at about the same time as the Natrona County Sheriff's Office began investigating allegations that two boys at the facility were sexually assaulted by other inmates. Prosecutors ultimately charged two other inmates in connection with the allegations. Those inmates, ages 17 and 18, have subsequently been moved to the Natrona County Detention Center and are being tried as adults.

State and local officials have declined to confirm whether the two investigations center on the same incidents.

In addition to the letter, the public documents included an e-mail attachment in which Cornerstone Program Manager Tyrene Green raised several concerns after visiting the detention center for the takeover.

Cornerstone voluntarily provided the department with Green's e-mail as they were undergoing the licensing process, said agency spokeswoman Juliette Rule.

After visiting the detention center, Green made a list of observations and e-mailed them to Cornerstone Chief Operating Officer Gary Miller, documents show. He offered suggestion for addressing each issue.

Green observed that the detention center "lacked a safe and effective risk assessment system of review to properly identify high risk youth for housing and programming purposes," he wrote. "The lack of this system increases the likelihood of serious incidents occurring at the program, as well as increase [sic] liability for the contracting agency and Cornerstone Programs."

He recommended developing a system that screens for "violent, predatory and sexual deviant behaviors," and houses inmates based on their determined risk level.

Following the e-mail, Cornerstone reassessed all of the inmates at the detention center and moved some to different cells, Miller said.

"We went back and reassessed kids, and we actually ended up moving kids to different rooming assignments based on that risk," he said.

Before Cornerstone arrived, high-risk youth were being housed in dormitory-style cells, rather than in single or double cells as they are now, Miller explained.

"We disagreed with how that was done," he said.

Sheriff's investigators believe the alleged incident of sexual assault at the center took place in a dormitory-style room, and according to Miller, the incidents involved high-risk inmates.

Reach Joshua Wolfson at (307) 266-0582 or at josh.wolfson@trib.com.