April 24 (UPI) — The Justice Department announced on Monday a $2.02 million settlement on civil rights complaints made by female corrections officers at the Mobile County Metro Jail in Alabama where supervisors and the sheriff failed to take effective action.
The female officers charged that male inmates routinely subjected them to “severe and pervasive” sexual harassment in the jail facility and, despite making numerous complaints, the sheriff’s office did not take action to end the conduct.
“The department’s lawsuit also alleges that male inmates harassed female employees assigned to the jail’s housing units by frequently exposing their genitals to and masturbating at them, and that inmates also directed sexual slurs, sexual propositions, threats of sexual violence, and sexually degrading comments toward female employees.”
A federal lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 over the incidents.
The Justice Department said the $2.02 million will be paid by the sheriff’s department into a settlement fund that will be used to compensate the women employees harmed by the harassment.
The agreement also requires the sheriff to develop a comprehensive inmate sexual misconduct policy; train all jail employees on the new policy related to inmate sexual misconduct; maintain a dedicated housing area to house inmates found guilty of sexual misconduct; and appoint an inmate sexual misconduct disciplinary hearing officer to monitor and track compliance.
“Employers must take appropriate action to protect their employees from sexual harassment in the workplace,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a statement.
“Just like any other workplace, jails must take steps necessary to ensure that female employees are not subject to a sexually hostile work environment in any form,” she said.
Before the settlement, it appeared the case would go to trial in January to determine whether the harassment inmates in the Alabama jail directed at an estimated 250 female employees violated federal law.
At that point, Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran conceded that women who work or worked in direct contact with male inmates at the county jail belong to a protected class, that they were subjected to unwelcome harassment, and that the harassment was based on their sex.
