PHILADELPHIA – A longtime officer in Philadelphia’s Department of Prisons says she suffered professional retaliation when she spoke out publicly against conditions in local correctional institutions during the COVID-19, conditions which she says had become “horrifying.”
Sholonda Gregory filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on March 11 versus the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Prisons, plus its Commissioner Blanche Carney, Deputy Commissioner Terrence Clark, Deputy Commissioner Xavier Beaufort, Deputy Warden Norman Williams, Captain James Smith and Director Ivan Marshall.
Gregory, a veteran corrections officer of more than 23 years, says she was promoted to the position of Lieutenant in June 2021 and explains that for many years, the Department of Prisons was run in a “humane” manner.
“In her two-plus decades of experience as a correctional officer, jails were properly staffed with adequate correctional officers. Everything was run on a set schedule. Inmates were in general population and were able to shower, exercise, use the law library, access social workers, the chaplain, perform their jobs in the kitchen, or cleaning or laundry, or in the receiving room, they had visitors on a regular basis. They had more communication with children and families. It was jail, but the conditions were humane and the prisons ran on a fair routine,” the suit says.
In or about May 2016, the plaintiff says Carney “drastically cut the budget for regular prisons operations and diverted funds to Corizon Health, GD Correctional Food Services, U.S. Facilities, Centurion Detention Health Services and other outside vendors at the expense of investments in the staff and infrastructure needed to assure good order and humane conditions at prisons.”
The plaintiff added Carney closed two jails – the Detention Center and the House of Corrections, leading to more prisoners were packed into smaller space, officers being forced to change shifts and a wave of mass resignations.
“COVID caused these strains to crack. General populations were all shut down. Lockdown was the norm. Prisons failed to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and correctional officers became sick with COVID at alarming rates. The lack of staff meant that inmates were left in lockdown for outrageous periods of time. Inmates were unable to shower. They were unable to exercise. They were deprived access to the law library. Prison jobs were not worked. Inmates were unable to communicate with their families. They became unruly and violent. The inmates learned how to break locks on their cells and wreaked havoc on the prisons floor. Plaintiff brought this and other matters to defendants’ attention in a letter dated Oct. 5, 2021 (Exhibit A),” the suit says.
“The violence resulting from inmates free of their cells on a regular basis, with far less than adequate staff to control them, was horrifying. Officers were unable to keep prisoners in cells. Inmates found access to materials they could use to make weapons. Inadequate staffing meant that unarmed guards (or armed only with pepper spray) had to face inmates with homemade knives. The conditions led to riots. Plaintiff recalls there were at least three riots in 2021 in three different facilities. Commissioner Carney told the public the officers were engaged in drills and she covered up the riots.”
The plaintiff explained that the inmates filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Remick Et.Al v. City of Philadelphia Et.Al, No. 2:20-cv-01959, and that an injunction was issued that required prisons to provide yard time, etc.
According to the plaintiff, she was told to falsify time out of cell records to deceive this Court in the Remick case, a demand that the plaintiff refused.
“Plaintiff witnessed that hundreds of inmates were placed in solitary confinement for excessive times (another civil rights violation). As a newly-promoted Lieutenant, plaintiff took the responsibility to document the inmates in solitary confinement and determine whether they should continue to be held there. She was shocked to learn of inmates in solitary for about a year. When she attempted to document and rectify this situation, plaintiff was told to stand down and that this was none of her business. Defendant Williams gave this order to plaintiff. Plaintiff witnessed firsthand, and with intimate knowledge of how the prisons worked, that the system had completely broken down. After witnessing many events that shocked the conscience, plaintiff wrote Exhibit A,” the suit states.
“This letter was sent to Mayor Jim Kenney, Judge Berle Schiller, City Councilmembers, the American Civil Liberties Union, District Attorney Larry Krasner, the Office of Inspector General and lead counsel for plaintiffs in the Remick matter. Defendants Carney, Clark, Beaufort, Williams, Smith and Marshall all knew of Exhibit A contemporaneous to its submission by plaintiff. In response to Exhibit A, defendants retaliated against plaintiff. On Dec. 10, 2021, she lost her promotion to Lieutenant. The stated reasons for revoking the promotion are pre-textual and were concocted after Exhibit A was delivered. Defendant Smith admitted that defendant Williams demanded that plaintiff be demoted. Another captain, Gerald Simmons, told plaintiff that defendants intended to demote her. After her demotion, plaintiff was transferred to another facility and was humiliated. She has suffered, and continues to suffer, great distress from the misconduct of defendant.”
For counts of retaliation under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, contempt of court in the Remick matter, violation of the Pennsylvania Whistleblower Law and common law whistleblower retaliation, the plaintiff is seeking all equitable and monetary relief available under the applicable laws and such other relief as this Court deems just and proper.
The plaintiff is represented by Timothy P. Creech of Creech & Creech, in Philadelphia.
The defendants have not yet secured legal counsel.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:22-cv-00929
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com