Recent Events

Crowley County Correctional Facility, Olney Springs, Colorado
November 29, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
Three workers at the Olney Springs prison have joined a lawsuit that alleges female workers were given dangerous assignments as retaliation for objecting to repeated, serious sexual harassment. A U.S. district court judge on Tuesday allowed the three to become intervenors in the lawsuit of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against operators of the Crowley County Correctional Facility. The EEOC two months ago sued Corrections Corporation of America, which has operated the prison since January 2003, and Dominion Correctional Services, which operated it from December 2000 to January 2003. The lawsuit alleges violations of federal laws against hostile work environments and retaliation for complaining about discrimination. "Female employees were routinely groped, pawed and physically assaulted by male management and male co-workers," the EEOC alleged. Becoming intervenors allows the three to participate directly in the litigation and to have their own attorney, said Denver attorney Barry Roseman, who represents them. They are seeking monetary damages in amounts to be proven at a trial. The three are Sabinita Barron of Rocky Ford, Marcia Manchego of Ordway and Christine Newland of Colorado Springs. He said Barron is a guard and that Manchego had been a case manager and Newland had been a guard, but no longer work at the prison. The EEOC sued on behalf of all female employees who allegedly had been subjected to the illegal behavior. The companies have not yet filed in court their answers to the lawsuit. "Historically there has been a pattern of this kind of behavior where women enter into a traditionally male-dominated workplace," EEOC regional attorney Mary Jo O'Neill said when the lawsuit was filed. "We're trying to stop harassment based on sex, ethnicity, race and national origin," said EEOC supervising attorney Nancy Weeks. She said the agency tried to reach a settlement with the companies before filing the lawsuit, "but our efforts didn't work." The EEOC's district director, Chester Bailey, said employers "need to be especially aware that when employees complain of discrimination, the proper response is to investigate and resolve the issue. To retaliate against those who complain is a separate violation."

October 3, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
A federal agency is alleging that male supervisors at the Olney Springs prison put female employees in dangerous assignments as retaliation for objecting to "repeated, serious" sexual harassment. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission made the allegations in a lawsuit against companies that currently operate and previously operated the Crowley County Correctional Facility, a private prison, . The lawsuit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court against Corrections Corporation of America and against Dominion Correctional Services, a limited liability company. Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation has operated the prison since January 2003. Edmond, Okla.-based Dominion operated the prison from December 2000 to January 2003. Since at least 2000, the companies "have engaged in unlawful employment practices . . . by allowing its employees, including but not limited to management level officials, to sexually harass" female workers, the EEOC alleges in the lawsuit. The harassment was "repeated, serious, verbal and physical," in which "female employees were routinely groped, pawed and physically assaulted by male management and male co-workers," the lawsuit alleges. "Females who resisted sexual activity suffered consequences, including . . . hostile and demeaning verbal and physical advances, undesirable and even dangerous shift assignments and reduced opportunities for advancement," the lawsuit alleges. The companies allegedly "were aware of the sexual harassment, (but) failed to take reasonable measures to prevent and promptly remedy" it. Corrections Corporation did not respond to a request for comment. Dominion could not be reached for comment. The EEOC lawsuit seeks: A court order barring the companies from any practice "which creates a sexually or retaliatory hostile work environment" and from retaliating against employees who object to practices of that sort. A court order requiring the companies to carry out practices providing equal employment opportunities for women "and which eradicate the effects of its past unlawful employment practices, including retaliation." Back pay for former female employees who were victims of the alleged misconduct. Front pay, or reinstatement to their jobs. Compensation for money the employees lost from the alleged misconduct and for emotional pain. Damages to punish the companies for their "malicious and/or reckless conduct." A court order requiring the companies to provide training to their staffs about "discriminatory harassment and retaliation in the workplace." In 2004, a Dominion official said the company fired a chief of security at the prison after investigating him for sexual misconduct. The official said that the security chief in that episode was not the same chief of security who was named in a lawsuit by two women employees as the man who allegedly engaged in sexual misconduct against them. Dominion in 2003 settled the lawsuit and a similar suit involving a different male employee. At the time in 2004 when Dominion said it had fired a chief of security, the EEOC was seeking a court order to compel the company to provide information for an agency investigation. In a court document at that time, the EEOC said a chief of security at the prison forced a female sergeant, beginning in 2002, to engage in sex "under threat of losing her job" and beginning in 2001 subjected another female sergeant to "offensive, gender-based harassment." Friday's lawsuit stemmed from the 2004 investigation, Nancy Weeks, a supervisory EEOC attorney in Denver, said Monday. In 2005, Dominion settled a lawsuit filed by Mandy Bravo, a former female guard who alleged she was subjected to "severe and pervasive" offensive remarks from male superiors from 2001 to 2002. Hundreds of inmates took control of the prison for several hours in July 2004 and the handful of guards on duty retreated. The rioters tore up parts of the prison and set numerous fires.

February 18, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
A company that operated the prison at Olney Springs has settled yet another lawsuit in which a female guard alleged she was the victim of outrageous conduct by her male superiors. Filings in U.S. District Court show that Dominion Correctional Services and Mandy Bravo recently settled her lawsuit, which also alleged retaliation and gender discrimination. Last summer, the company and three other former female guards settled those guards' lawsuits that alleged managers at the prison repeatedly engaged in sexual misconduct, including rape, against female employees. Last fall, a federal agency alleged in a lawsuit that a former chief of prison security forced a female subordinate to engage in sexual activities with him. When the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit, a Dominion spokeswoman said the company had fired him when it learned of his misconduct. The allegations in each of those three sets of lawsuits involved the same time period, 2001 and 2002. Dominion, of Edmond, Okla., operated the prison, the Crowley County Correctional Facility, until January 2003 when Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America bought it. The 1,200-bed prison houses inmates under contracts with states. Bravo listed her address as Pueblo West when she filed her lawsuit in October, two months after the settlement of the lawsuits of the three other former guards. Those three guards sought more than $10 million total as damages. In her lawsuit, Bravo said she sought treatment at Parkview Medical Center because an investigator for the prison injured her hand in an alleged altercation in his office in September 2002. She said she filed a police report about the incident. Bravo alleged she was subjected to "severe and pervasive" offensive remarks from male superiors from the time she was hired in June 2001 until she was fired in October 2002. She said she was retaliated against because she repeatedly complained about the way she was treated. The altercation with the investigator allegedly occurred when she questioned him why nothing had been done about her complaints. In a court filing, Dominion claimed it fired Bravo because she refused to return to work after the altercation although prison officials tried to facilitate her return. Bravo claimed when she returned to work a superior told her to go home and she was fired later in the day. The company said Bravo, in meetings with managers immediately after the altercation, did not complain of an injury. Dominion also said she had been insubordinate on another occasion and that her allegations of retaliation were unsupported. In her lawsuit, Bravo sought unspecified monetary damages, back pay of more than $40,000 and unspecified losses due to losing her fringe benefits. Bravo's lawyer, Charlotte Sweeney of Denver, and Dominion official Carolyn Burgess each said separately they cannot comment on the settlement because it contains a confidentiality agreement. Bravo could not be reached for comment.  

October 1, 2004 Pueblo Chieftain
A former chief of security at the prison in Olney Springs was terminated after being investigated for sexual misconduct, his former employer said Thursday. "We did everything we possibly could when they (two female employees) brought us the information," said Carolyn Burgess, human resources director of Dominion Correctional Services. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Wednesday alleged that a former chief of security at the state prison forced a female sergeant to engage in telephone sex and oral sex with him. He also allegedly subjected another female sergeant to "offensive, gender-based harassment." The EEOC's action in federal court also accused Dominion of failing to respond to an Aug. 3 subpoena as part of the EEOC's investigation of the women's complaints.

September 30, 2004 Pueblo Chieftain
A federal agency alleged Wednesday that a high-ranking employee of a company that operated a private prison in Olney Springs forced a female subordinate to engage in sexual activities with him. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission made the allegation in a federal court action in Denver against Dominion Correctional Services of Edmond, Okla. The company last summer settled lawsuits with three other women employees of the same prison who alleged prison managers repeatedly engaged in sexual misconduct, including rape, against them. The prison's chief of security forced a female sergeant to engage in telephone sex and oral sex beginning in 2002 "under threat of losing her position," the EEOC alleged. Wednesday's court action alleges that the company has failed to respond to an EEOC subpoena issued as part of its investigation of complaints by the two latest women. The EEOC is seeking a court order to compel Dominion to provide information sought in the subpoena. The earlier lawsuits also pertained to alleged misconduct in 2001 and 2002. A former guard claimed a chief of security, Ronald McCall, raped her; and another former guard alleged that he frequently propositioned her.

Details of a sexual harassment lawsuit settlement between an Edmond company that once operated a Colorado private prison and three women who used to work there aren't being released.  The women, former guards, filed the federal lawsuit seeking more than $10 million from Dominion Correctional Services and three managers.  The former guards alleged that female employees were coerced numerous times in 2001 and 2002 into sexual activity by male managers who condoned sexual misconduct among workers.  Former guard Lucilla Gigliotti alleged that she became pregnant after the prison's former chief of security, Ronald McCall, went to her home and raped her.  McCall, in court filings, denied he sexually assaulted her and denied he "engaged in any conduct which violated the constitutional rights" of Gigliotti and the other two women, Pamela Johnson and Lt. Jennifer Stalder.  McCall had been forced from a previous job at the Colorado Department of Corrections because "he had an extensive history of engaging in sexual discrimination and harassment," the three women alleged.  Johnson alleged a guard raped her at the prison despite her having previously pleaded with Vigil not to assign the guard and her to the same work area.  (AP, July 25, 2004)

Three former Crowley County Prison guards are suing the private companies that operate the prison, claiming they were coerced into having sex with managers and that sexual misconduct was rampant among employees and inmates. In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday, one of the three female guards alleged that a high-ranking male official of the Crowley County Correctional Facility came to her Pueblo home and forced her to have sex. The lawsuit alleges that man had been fired by the Colorado Department of Corrections for sexual harassment. (AP, July 11, 2003)

Stanley Correctional Facility, Chippewa, Wisconsin
May 17, 2006 Journal-Sentinel
The Stanley prison that a private company built - and which the state ended up buying for $87.1 million - violates electrical, plumbing and safety codes that will cost taxpayers an additional $5 million to repair. The State Building Commission on Wednesday voted to spend that money to fix a long list of major problems at the Stanley prison. The vote came after commissioners complained that buying the prison built by Dominion Asset Services of Edmond, Okla., was a major mistake. The commission also told the state Department of Corrections to investigate whether the Oklahoma company can be sued over the code violations. The prison played a role in the corruption conviction of former state Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala (D-Madison). Dominion executives gave $125,000 to Independent Citizens for Democracy, a campaign group Chvala illegally controlled in the summer of 2001, records in Chvala's criminal case show. Chvala changed his position on the prison and agreed to the state purchase of the facility after the donations. Chvala was convicted last year of two felonies and is serving a nine-month sentence on home detention. State officials said they had no choice but to correct dozens of code violations at the prison, which held 1,511 male inmates last week. "This is the Legislature's fault," said Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Berlin). "Now, we have to fix it up." Olsen said legislators should have demanded a discount on the purchase price of the Stanley prison, since state officials had a strong bargaining position and could have decided whether or when it opened. "This was a serious mistake, and a boondoggle of the nth degree," said Sen. Fred Risser (D-Madison). "They sold it to us, and it didn't meet code." Risser said the Dominion firm "made a nice profit" when the Legislature and then-Gov. Scott McCallum agreed in 2001 to buy the prison. Dominion employees also donated $4,000 to McCallum's re-election campaign. Proper procedures ignored. "We're wasting $5 million on this," said Sen. Carol Roessler (R-Oshkosh). "This company totally did not follow (code) requirements." Gov. Jim Doyle, chairman of the Building Commission, said proper procedures were not followed when the state purchased the prison. As attorney general in 2001, Doyle had advised legislators that no inmates could be placed in the prison until it was either leased or bought by the state. The process normally used in state building projects was circumvented for the Stanley prison, the governor said, noting that the Legislature and governor must jointly agree on what is needed, and then the Building Commission must formally approve the plan. The Stanley fiasco led to new laws prohibiting the speculative construction of prisons. State government bought the prison in 2002, with the code violations "not readily observable upon inspection," state officials said. Code problems that must be corrected include those in heating and cooling systems. Also, the state must install smoke controls in housing units and electrical grounding wires, rebuild electric conductors, and move metal stairs. Construction is expected to start next April and be finished by June 2008. Assistant Milwaukee County District Attorney David Feiss, who prosecuted Chvala, said he mentioned at sentencing the $125,000 that Dominion officials gave to the campaign group the Democratic senator controlled. Told of the code violations, Feiss said, "The entire transaction is sordid, so it is not surprising that there are details that were not known then." Calls to Dominion were not returned Wednesday. In 2001, Dominion Asset Services hired several lobbyists to push state purchase of the Stanley prison through the Legislature. Also lobbying for the purchase were western Wisconsin legislators and Stanley elected officials. In 2001, according to state Ethics Board records, those lobbyists included former Senate Majority Leader Joe Strohl (D-Racine) and former Rep. Rosemary Potter (D-Milwaukee); John Matthews, former chief of staff to Republican Gov. Tommy G. Thompson; and Ray Carey, a friend of then-Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen (R-Town of Brookfield). Jensen pushed for state purchase of the prison during the 2001 legislative session. Jensen was sentenced to 15 months in prison Tuesday after being convicted of three felony and one misdemeanor counts of having Assembly workers campaign on state time.

February 13, 2006 AP
Employees of at least seven companies donated to Gov. Jim Doyle's re-election campaign around the same time the state picked their firms for no-bid contracts totaling more than $36.1 million, according to an Associated Press review. Campaign finance reports show McCallum received $4,001 in 2001 from executives of an Oklahoma company that built a private prison in Wisconsin hoping the state would buy it. The money came in one week before the state Building Commission, chaired by McCallum, approved buying the prison for $75 million.

December 31, 2005 Journal-Sentinel
Lobbyist Bill Broydrick testified in 2002 about how Chuck Chvala, the former Senate majority leader, solicited lobbyists and their clients for contributions. With Chvala scheduled to begin a nine-month jail sentence on Feb. 13 after pleading guilty to two felony corruption charges, Broydrick was recently shown a summary of his then-secret 2002 testimony about how the former Senate majority leader solicited lobbyists and their clients for contributions. Prosecutors say another group that got what it wanted was Dominion Asset Services, which built a prison in Stanley that it was trying to sell to the state. Dominion officials wrote one check for $50,000 on June 1, 2001, and another for $75,000 on July 1, 2001, to Independent Citizens for Democracy-Issues Inc., court records show. ICD-Issues was the group Chvala set up to get "soft money" donations from corporations - companies barred by state law from giving directly to state candidates and their campaign committees. On July 25, 2001, Chvala and Republicans brokered a final budget that included $79.9 million to buy the Stanley prison. Assembly Republicans long supported the purchase of the Stanley prison, but they were unable to get the deal through the Legislature because of Chvala's opposition to the deal. "And then, suddenly and surprisingly, he allowed it to go through," said Rep. Scott Jensen (R-Town of Brookfield), who was speaker of the Assembly at the time. Dominion built the prison even though state law bars private companies from operating prisons. The state could have used the law to negotiate a lower price because only the state and federal governments could buy the facility, critics said at the time. Jensen defended the purchase decision, saying it helped move prisoners held out of state closer to their families while creating jobs in Stanley, near Eau Claire. Around that time, Dominion employees gave $500 to Jensen and $500 to Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah), who offered the budget amendment to purchase the prison. Employees also gave $4,000 to then-Gov. Scott McCallum, a Republican, and $9,600 to Senate Democrats. After the state bought the prison, it delayed its opening for almost a year, after the state determined it would cost more to run the state facility than to keep inmates in out-of-state facilities.

Past History

Stanley Correctional Facility, Chippewa, Wisconsin
July 17, 2002
Outraged Stanley Correctional Facility staff and local politicians packed the dining room of the Renegade restaurant to overflowing Tuesday afternoon.  "It's not just our jobs," said Sgt. Zahn Erdman of Chippewa Falls.  "This is our careers."  Erdman has one of the nearly 200 prison jobs in limbo until the proposed January opening of the facility.  It had been scheduled to open in September with training scheduled to begin this week.  Gov. Scott McCallum accepted a proposal last week by Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, to save the jobs of 77 correctional officers who had been scheduled to be immediately laid off because of the delay.  If the budget hadn't been approved, the prison might not have opened until 2004, if ever, McCallum told Suder.  Suder showed McCallum and his staff figures indicating it will cost the state $1.3 million to delay the prison opening until January.  Sen. Dave Zien, R-Eau Claire, said most prisons in Wisconsin are at 130 percent of capacity.  If the Stanley prison were to open, 60 prisoners per week could be taken from the overcrowded prisons and brought into the Stanley facility.  (The News-Herald)

July 9, 2002
The controversial Stanley prison was at the heart of a deal that finally capped six months of debate over how the state should rid itself of a $1.1 billion budget deficit. Gov. Scott McCallum and Rep. Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford) struck the deal, which preserves prison jobs in Suder's area. "The governor and I had a long conversation about the Stanley prison, and we wound up saving 77 jobs that were scheduled to be laid off because of the impending delay," Suder said. "They will be retained at various institutions, including Stanley." As part of the deal, the hiring of another 108 workers will be accelerated, Suder said. "Scott proposed a plan that places the Stanley workers in correctional facilities in the area until the prison opens," McCallum said. "I believe his approach is reasonable, and we will make it work." The budget includes a Democratic Senate proposal that pushed back the opening of the 1,500-bed facility near Chippewa Falls from Sept. 1 until Jan. 1. Other costs associated with the prison mount as it awaits inmates. State taxpayers are spending more than $350,000 a month for salaries, utilities and payment on the prison. (The Journal Sentinel)

July 5, 2002
State Rep. Scott Suder is hoping to kill a budget provision that would delay the opening of the Stanley prison in Chippewa County by four months. Suder, R-Abbotsford, and state Sen. Dave Zien, R-Eau Claire, are pushing Gov. Scott McCallum to eliminate a state budget provision that would delay the prison's opening from Sept. 1 until January 2003. Senate Republicans sharply criticized the delay. Zien said the delayed opening unfairly toyed with the lives of people already working at the prison and those of people who have been preparing to start their new jobs. He also said opening the prison would allow the state to bring back some of the prisoners now housed in out-of-state facilities because of overcrowding at Wisconsin facilities (The gannet Wisconsin ).