DENVER -- The operators of a privately-operated Colorado prison have agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a lawsuit charging that former female workers were forced to have sex with male supervisors to keep their jobs.

Women who complained about the harassment faced retaliation, including "assigning them to the worst and most dangerous work assignments" at the Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs, according to a Tuesday statement issued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Denver.

The settlement ends a 2006 EEOC lawsuit against the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Dominion Correctional Services LLC.

"The conduct alleged here is reprehensible," said EEOC regional attorney Mary Jo O'Neill. "In a profession already fraught with the danger of dealing with prison inmates, it is inexcusable that another layer of fear was imposed by the men to whom these women reported and with whom they worked."

Many of the 21 women worked as correctional officers -- including a lieutenant and two sergeants -- and others were inmate educators and kitchen workers.

In making the settlement, both firms denied any wrongdoing.

CCA issued a statement saying it has always "expressly denied any wrongdoing" in the case, but "settled the claim to avoid the time, expense, and uncertainties of continued litigation and trial."

CCA stressed that "a substantial number of the more serious allegations made in the lawsuit related to conduct which allegedly occurred before CCA" purchased the Crowley County prison from Dominion Correctional Services in January 2003. Dominion has ceased operation and could not be reached by 7NEWS Tuesday.

The EEOC charges included that male managers forced women "to perform sex acts in order to keep their jobs. Two chiefs of security, who reported directly to the warden and to whom all security personnel at the prison reported, were allowed to resign after numerous complaints of sexual harassment and rape," the EEOC stated.

A woman correctional officer who made a harassment complaint against a male coworker was assigned to an isolated prison gate "where she was raped by the man" in November 2002, the EEOC charged.

"We at the EEOC see an unfortunately high number of sexual harassment cases, but what allegedly happened here was shocking and despicable," said Acting EEOC Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru. "No working woman should ever have to endure harassment and requests for sexual favors by managers in order to earn a paycheck -- or suffer retaliation for complaining about the illegal harassment."

The Crowley prison and CCA also drew criticism in 2004 after about 300 inmates rioted, attacking each other, trashing buildings and setting fires. The Colorado Department of Corrections, which pays to house prisoners at the prison, issued a blistering report, saying the prison was severely understaffed and the personnel too inexperienced and undertrained to control inmates.

The nation's largest owner and operator of government-contracted prisons, CCA operates 65 facilities nationwide, including four in Colorado.

In the monetary settlement paid to the women, CCA contributed $1.05 million and Dominion paid $250,000, according to the EEOC. CCA also agreed to hire an independent expert to conduct anti-discrimination training at the Crowley prison for three years.

"CCA and the management team at the Crowley County Correctional Facility remain committed to a workplace free from any form of unlawful discrimination and will redouble their efforts to ensure that the work environment remains free from any unlawful discrimination directed toward any of its employees," CCA officials said in a statement.