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SPARTA — A former Monroe County Jail supervisor accused of having sexual contact with a mentally ill female inmate in 2002 will spend 18 months in prison.

Monroe County Circuit Judge Todd Ziegler also ordered Thursday that former Monroe County Sheriff’s Lt. David Schaldach spend a year on extended supervision.

Schaldach, 61, of Warrens, Wis., pleaded no contest during the hearing to an amended charge of misconduct in public office. He had been charged Jan. 10 with abuse of a resident of a penal facility.

Schaldach had sexual contact with a 35-year-old inmate diagnosed with personality, bipolar and anxiety disorders at least twice while on duty in August 2002, according to the criminal complaint. The inmate said Schaldach provided her with contraband items in exchange for oral sex in the jail conference room, the complaint stated.

“Mr. Schaldach, in this circumstance, certainly had a duty to care for the victim as a supervisor in the jail,” Ziegler said. “The victim … was a troubled person with mental health issues and was certainly a vulnerable person, and Mr. Schaldach was aware of that and took advantage of that circumstance.”

Ziegler said Schaldach’s “disgraceful” actions tainted public perception about all law enforcement officers.

While special prosecutor Donald Latorraca praised Schaldach’s honesty and cooperation in the case, his conduct with the woman in his care cannot be forgiven and deserved prison.

Schaldach confessed to two or three sexual encounters with the woman during a deposition on a lawsuit filed against the jail on behalf of former inmate Brenda Mombourquette, according to the complaint and her attorney, Michael Devanie.

Devanie believes Schaldach failed to take proper care of Mombourquette because he knew she told authorities about his sexual contact with the other female inmate. He failed to put Mombourquette on suicide watch in 2002, despite a doctor’s order. She was left with permanent brain damage after trying to hang herself with a sheet in her jail cell.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled Schaldach would have motive to disregard Mombourquette’s safety after she reported the sexual contact with the 35-year-old inmate. The lawsuit was settled for $13.1 million in February 2007.

A second suit filed earlier this month in federal court against Schaldach, then-sheriff Charles Amundson and then-undersheriff John Cram on behalf of the sexual assault victim accuses Schaldach of sexual abuse and contributing to the deterioration of her mental health, Devanie said.

Schaldach apologized Thursday to the victim, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department and all law enforcement agencies.

“What I did was beyond comprehension. I brought disgrace to law enforcement,” he said. “I know the shame that I feel and how difficult it is and I’ll live with it forever.”

Defense attorney John Matousek said the misconduct was out of character for Schaldach and praised his admission to the criminal offense during the civil deposition “when he could have hid behind the fifth.”

Schaldach retired Dec. 31, 2002.