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| Sexual harassment rampant at prisons, records show |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 12/15/2003 |
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A review of sexual harassment complaints logged among corrections department employees has shown that sexual harassment is rampant at Arizona's prisons, something the state's first female prisons chief will have to confront. In the last three years, the department logged 176 sexual harassment complaints, state records show. In the last fiscal year, nearly half of 47 complaints resulted in some sort of discipline, with eight still under investigation. Responding to a public records request, DOC officials released documents providing details on 39 allegations of sexual harassment during the state's most recent fiscal year. The East Valley Tribune reported that out of the 39 complaints, internal DOC investigations declared seven to be credible cases of sexual harassment. But, DOC officials disciplined corrections officers for conduct violations or failing to properly supervise a subordinate in 12 other cases. In two other cases, the alleged harasser resigned while under investigation and no final determinations were made. "Those are large numbers, given the work force," said Mary Jo O'Neill, a regional attorney with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The department has 9,644 employees. By comparison, the state Department of Economic Security, which has nearly an equal number of employees, recorded 13 complaints in the last three years. O'Neill said that typically, formal complaints are just the "tip of the iceberg." "It means there's a whole lot of other stuff going on," she said. Department of Corrections Director Dora Schriro, who started July 1, told the Tribune that sexual harassment will be addressed. Noting complaints declined from 68 to 61, then to 47 in the last three fiscal years, Schriro said her mission is to "accelerate the rate of the improvement." A planned department reorganization will help, she said. For example, a new labor relations office will report directly to her, and the agency's code of conduct is being reviewed. Schriro said she also stopped the practice of forcing alleged victims to take polygraph tests, because she feared it could discourage some people from filing valid complaints. O'Neill called the polygraph tests "extremely unusual" and said she was unaware of any private business or government agency that used them in such investigations. O'Neill also said she was concerned about the way DOC classifies the outcomes of its sexual harassment investigations. Often, complaints that seemed to indicate sexual harassment were instead deemed violations of workplace conduct standards. The behavior is not necessarily surprising, though, she said. "When you have places that have been predominantly male ... there always seems to be a period of sexual harassment," she said. |
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