Federal District Judge Avern Cohn granted the Michigan Corrections Organization's request for an injunction to halt the Department of Corrections' implementation of gender-based staffing. The trial date has been set for December 4, 2000. DOC announced recently that it intended to start mandating female officers into housing units at women's prisons and involuntarily transferring male Resident Unit Officers out of the housing units.
MCO filed a lawsuit challenging the gender-based assignments as a violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the federal law which prohibits discrimination in employment  based on race, sex and other protected characteristics. The Union went to Court September 22, 2000 for an injunction to prevent the Department from implementing the plan for gender- based assignments.
DOC announced the plan to coincide with the opening of Western Wayne as a women's prison. They planed to move prisoners as early as September 25, 2000 from Florence Crane facility in Coldwater.
The Department also announced recently its plan to alter security levels of three prisons affected by this suit. Western Wayne will be a level I prison. For female prisoners, Crane facility will be converted from level II to a level I men's prison, and Lakeland Correctional facility will become entirely a level II prison rather than the current mix of level I and level II.
MCO believes gender-based assignments in housing units are unfair, unnecessary, illegal and
an insult to the integrity of all officers.