Two Idaho prison guards sexually assaulted her, witnesses said. Neither was charged

**Editor's Note: The following article discusses incidents of sexual assault. Reader discretion advised.**

It was November 2023, in a staff break room at South Idaho Correctional Institution, when prison guard Blas Covarrubias unbuttoned Michele’s pants and sexually assaulted her, she told an investigator. She was one of six inmates that the corporal — known as “Covi” to the women he was entrusted with protecting — was accused of abusing in 2023 and 2024.  

Eight months later, Michele was sexually assaulted again. This time by someone else: a correctional officer named Justin Tillema, a witness reported.