Female prisoner forced cellmate to be her 'girlfriend'
[naviga:img class="img-responsive" src="/Assets/news2015/mugshot-sheppard-savannah.jpg" alt="Savannah Sheppard"/]
Savannah Sheppard
A Bristol woman serving a 15-year sentence at the Janet S. York Correctional Institution in Niantic for shaking her infant daughter was sentenced to an additional 18 months in prison Wednesday for sexually assaulting, stabbing and choking her cellmate.
Savannah Sheppard, 29, pleaded guilty in New London Superior Court to first-degree unlawful restraint.
The victim went to the prison nurse in May and reported that Sheppard had stabbed her body with a pen. She went on to report that Sheppard had sexually assaulted her, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
"She said I'm her girlfriend," the victim reported. "I'm not her girlfriend. I was forced to do it."
In a follow-up interview with state police, the woman said Sheppard had been sexually assaulting her since they became cellmates in January, forcing her to perform an estimated 100 sex acts, the affidavit said. She estimated that Sheppard had choked her about 10 times until she felt lightheaded and short of breath.
The victim turned over to authorities a "certificate of death" that she said Sheppard forced her to sign. The document said the victim would die of multiple stab wounds to the throat if she cheated on Sheppard or broke up with her.
Sheppard, who previously had stabbed other inmates and "has a lot of enemies" at the prison, threatened to harm her while she slept, the victim said.
"Sheppard has told me how she likes to kill things, especially animals, and suffocates them by choking them and watching them suffer," the victim said.
Confronted by a DOC captain, Sheppard said she had been "play fighting" with the woman and that their relationship was consensual. She was arrested in July and has made several court appearances while Public Defender Kevin C. Barrs and Senior Assistant State's Attorney Theresa Anne Ferryman attempted to resolve the case short of trial.
On Wednesday, she accepted the offer to plead guilty in exchange for 1½ years to be served consecutive to her current 15-year sentence. She pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine, which indicates she disputes some of the allegations but does not want to risk a harsher sentence if convicted at trial.
In handing down the sentence, Judge Hillary B. Strackbein told Sheppard she is prohibited for life from having contact with the victim.
Strackbein also had sentenced Sheppard in 2013 to 15 years in prison in the child abuse case. The child was left severely disabled. The 2013 sentence also included time for stabbing three inmates with homemade shanks.
