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| Conn. Settles Women Officers' Lawsuit |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 05/15/2003 |
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An independent consultant will be hired to investigate allegations of sexual harassment filed by female correction officers against their male coworkers, state prison officials announced Wednesday. The agreement to assign the task to an outside investigator is part of a settlement of a class action lawsuit filed by several female prison officers against the Department of Correction. At a news conference at the department's Wethersfield headquarters Wednesday, Commissioner Theresa Lantz hailed the agreement as a landmark move. ''This action seeks to change the culture of sexual harassment in the department,'' Lantz said. ''This goes a long way to re-establishing confidence of the women who work for us.'' The state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities began investigating the charges late last year, after a group of female correction officers accused prison officials of routinely mishandling or ignoring their complaints and retaliating against women for filing the accusations. The Permanent Commission on the Status of Women will select the investigator. The Correction Department would mete out punishment to male correction officers found guilty of harassment. ''This agreement will serve as a model for other states,'' said state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who helped negotiate the pact. New Haven attorney David Rosen, one of the women's lawyers, said the next step in the lawsuit is to determine the scope of sexual harassment in the state prisons. As many as 2,000 women may have been the targets of such abuse, he said. ''We're holding fire on the monetary damages we intend to seek until we determine how widespread the problem is,'' Rosen said. ''We believe that under the last (prison) administration it had become endemic. If that's the case, the figure would be substantial.'' |
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