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Fired prison guard who was harassed by naked inmates wins court ruling
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 4/15/8 | Bob Egelko

Posted on 04/15/2008 10:54:57 AM PDT by SmithL

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court has upheld $600,000 in damages to a state prison guard who said she was fired after complaining that she was being harassed by naked male inmates.

The complaints by Deanna Freitag led to an investigation by the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's inspector general, who found in 2000 that maximum-security inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison had regularly subjected female guards to "lewd exhibitionism and exhibitionist masturbation" and that the warden and other officials were doing little to stop it.

Freitag, who had worked at the prison in Del Norte County since 1996, was fired by Pelican Bay officials shortly before those findings were issued. Her bosses accused her of fabricating incidents in the reports she had been filing since September 1998.

In her lawsuit, Freitag said officials brushed off her complaints and disciplined the prisoners mildly, if at all.

A federal court jury in San Francisco awarded Freitag $500,000 for lost wages and $100,000 for emotional distress in a March 2003 verdict against the department, the warden and other prison officials.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2006 that the corrections department had failed to protect Freitag from sexual harassment. But the court returned her case to the trial judge to consider the effect of a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limited government employees' protection from retaliation for criticizing workplace conditions.

In a 2-1 ruling Friday, the appeals court upheld Freitag's damage award, agreeing with U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; US: California
KEYWORDS: prisonguard
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Your tax dollars at work.
1 posted on 04/15/2008 10:54:58 AM PDT by SmithL
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To: SmithL

Did this woman think that she was getting hired to take care of a bunch of schoolboys? Sheesh! What did she expect to see in a male prison?


2 posted on 04/15/2008 10:57:53 AM PDT by dr.zaeus
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To: SmithL

I wonder how the guards manage to deal with it at Gitmo.


3 posted on 04/15/2008 10:58:10 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB (Conservatives are to McCain what Charlie Brown is to Lucy.)
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To: SmithL
Your tax dollars at work.

Did the prisoners receive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts?

4 posted on 04/15/2008 11:00:50 AM PDT by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
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To: SmithL

could someone explain to me why a woman is working at a male prison????


5 posted on 04/15/2008 11:03:48 AM PDT by joe fonebone (The Second Amendment is the Contitutions reset button)
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To: joe fonebone

Maybe it was her?

6 posted on 04/15/2008 11:05:54 AM PDT by crusty old prospector
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To: dr.zaeus
Did this woman think that she was getting hired to take care of a bunch of schoolboys? Sheesh! What did she expect to see in a male prison?

LOL, I said something similar and got bashed by a few butch types some time back. Women have no business in a male prison, Like men have no business in a female prison.

7 posted on 04/15/2008 11:06:14 AM PDT by org.whodat (What's the difference between a Democrat and a republican????)
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To: Grizzled Bear

National endowment... LOL

Actually, so what these guys are inmates? Doesn’t mean they should be allowed to act like animals. The first step to getting out ought to be classes on how to be a gentleman, how to lead a normal life without committing crime and it damned sure ought to start right there in prison.

I’m glad the state has to pay something for that crap.


8 posted on 04/15/2008 11:06:37 AM PDT by Rick.Donaldson (http://www.transasianaxis.com - Please visit for latest on DPRK/Russia/China/et al.)
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To: SmithL

The prisoners are there to be punished. They should have been punished for their unacceptable behavior. They don’t get to act the way they want. I would suggest that cattle prods might work well.


9 posted on 04/15/2008 11:08:46 AM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ("Don't touch that thing")
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To: dr.zaeus
Did this woman think that she was getting hired to take care of a bunch of schoolboys? Sheesh! What did she expect to see in a male prison?

I think that she expected the warden to discipline prisoners engaging in this lewd behavior. It seems that disciplining inmates for lewd behavior is a reasonable expectation. I do not know the specifics of this case. Perhaps the warden did try disciplining or she had some role in encouraging the behavior. I do not know if the award is justified. Female guards should not subjected to lewd behavior as a matter of employment.

10 posted on 04/15/2008 11:09:43 AM PDT by businessprofessor
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To: joe fonebone

It’s not logical Captain.

At, perhaps, its most absurd; a male exhibitionist could be put into a prison — where he’ll henceforth have no privacy from female guards.


11 posted on 04/15/2008 11:12:26 AM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: SmithL
Its inexcusable California did nothing to stop the harassment. That was allowed in violation of the law, regulations and department policy. The verdict shows what Corrections Department bosses who don't get it can expect to face when they don't do their job.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

12 posted on 04/15/2008 11:12:27 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: Rick.Donaldson
that maximum-security inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison

Max at Pelican Bay is where all the other prisons in CA send the worst of the worst that can't be handled, women have no business working max there.

13 posted on 04/15/2008 11:13:12 AM PDT by jazusamo (DefendOurMarines.org | DefendOurTroops.org)
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To: businessprofessor

Females should not be guarding male prisoners.


14 posted on 04/15/2008 11:13:39 AM PDT by porter_knorr
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To: SmithL

I think she should have told the lewd little twits that if she was a guy with an organ that small, she’d keep it under wraps and wouldn’t flaunt it.


15 posted on 04/15/2008 11:14:05 AM PDT by Tamar1973 (Catch the Korean Wave, one Bae Yong Joon film at a time!)
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To: SmithL

What we have here is a failure to communicate...


16 posted on 04/15/2008 11:16:21 AM PDT by Portcall24
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To: crusty old prospector

scared straight!!!!!!!!!!!


17 posted on 04/15/2008 11:17:42 AM PDT by joe fonebone (The Second Amendment is the Contitutions reset button)
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To: businessprofessor
It seems that disciplining inmates for lewd behavior is a reasonable expectation.

She's the guard. Why didn't she discipline them?

18 posted on 04/15/2008 11:18:29 AM PDT by donna ("Women are not little men, and men are not big women.")
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To: dr.zaeus
I think she won her case because the prisoners were not punished for their actions.

The prison can't prevent such actions by prisoners, but when the prisoner's do such things, the administrators of the prison do need to take appropriate actions rather than just ignore the incidents.

19 posted on 04/15/2008 11:23:44 AM PDT by untrained skeptic
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To: jazusamo

Well, we can all say what we like about women working in prisons, or being in combat. Personally, I’ve been in the Supermax here in Colorado and there are women working there as well....

So, you have your opinion, I have mine. Men, in prison need to start acting like human beings before they are let out.


20 posted on 04/15/2008 11:32:35 AM PDT by Rick.Donaldson (http://www.transasianaxis.com - Please visit for latest on DPRK/Russia/China/et al.)
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