A federal judge Monday sentenced former federal correctional officer Richard Seaman to 20 months in prison for sexually abusing a female inmate at the Federal Detention Center in Hono­lulu.

U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway also ordered Seaman, 47, to pay a $3,000 fine.

She told Seaman that what he did is "totally reprehensible."

Seaman told Mollway that he is a new man who is undergoing counseling and has dedicated his life to his religion, wife and family.

He pleaded guilty in December to one of five charges of sex abuse of an adult ward in custody. He said he was working as commissary supervisor on Dec. 8, 2011, when he had sex with the inmate.

THE federal prosecutor said the woman saved DNA from the encounter on her shirt and turned over the shirt to investigators. The investigators then matched the DNA to Seaman.

Seaman resigned from his job after his arrest in April 2012.

Federal court sentencing guidelines had suggested a term of between 10 and 16 months behind bars.

Mollway said Seaman deserves a higher sentence because his crime involved abuse of his authority and that he had sexually abused the inmate on four other occasions. He also told her that if she reported him, nothing would happen to him but that she would be punished.

The woman filed a civil lawsuit against Seaman and the government last year because she claims Seaman’s supervisors knew that he was previously investigated for sexually assaulting or sexually harassing other female inmates yet allowed him to be alone with her on at least three occasions in areas of the facility not monitored by cameras.

Defense lawyer William Harrison said Seaman was never involved in any previous wrongdoing.