One of the two prison guards accused of trying to help three federal inmates escape from a regional prison in Rugby also is charged with having sexual contact with an inmate, court records show.

The court documents do not say whether the inmate was one of the three allegedly involved in the escape attempt earlier this month. Pierce County State's Attorney Galen Mack could not immediately be reached late Friday afternoon for clarification.

The sexual assault charge against guard Becky Willison alleges she had sexual contact with an inmate between Feb. 2 and Sept. 12. Her attorney, William Hartl, declined comment Friday.

Willison, 29, and another guard, Keri Brandt, 20, are accused of smuggling in saw blades to help in the escape of three inmates accused in a high-profile federal drug case. One of the inmates faces a murder charge.

The escape attempt was foiled when a search Sept. 12 turned up the blades. Authorities at the North Central Correctional and Rehabilitation Center have not given details of how they caught on to the plan, citing security reasons.

Brandt is formally charged with unlawful delivery into a correctional facility, a Class A felony; criminal conspiracy-escape, a Class B felony; and giving false information to a law enforcement officer, a Class A misdemeanor. She faces up to 31 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

Willison faces the same charges, along with Class B felony conspiracy to unlawfully deliver into a correctional facility; Class C felony sexual assault; and Class C felony tampering with physical evidence. She faces up to 51 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

No court dates have been set for either guard, the Pierce County clerk of court's office said Friday. Northeast District Judge Lee Christofferson has been assigned to the case, though Willison has filed a request for a different judge. Hartl declined comment on the request, and the court document does not give a reason for it.

The two women earlier were ordered held at a Devils Lake jail without bail. They have been given court-appointed attorneys, Mack said. The question of whether they will be tried together or separately has not been decided, he said early Friday.

Mack said charges against the prisoners involved in the escape attempt are still being considered. "I expect there will be some charges at some point," he said.

Prison officials said the inmates who tried to escape are Gabriel Martinez, 29, his brother, Ramon, 31, and Michael Wright, 21. They have been at the Rugby prison since about the first of the year. Gabriel Martinez faces a murder charge in the 2005 killing of Lee Avila, 28, of East Grand Forks, Minn.

Willison had worked at the Rugby prison since July 2006 and Brandt since May 2007, according to administrator Elaine Little.