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* Office of Executive Inspector General…
On June 13 and 21, 2019, the Office of Executive Inspector General (OEIG) received complaints alleging that after [IDOC Employee 1] ticketed an inmate for sexual misconduct, Lt. Adrian Corley required [IDOC Employee 1] and another employee to draw a picture of the incident on a fictitious IDOC form, which was then distributed and shown to other IDOC employees.1 The complaints alleged that following this incident, Pontiac Correctional Center staff harassed [IDOC Employee 1] and treated him differently based on his sexual orientation.
The evidence gathered in this investigation revealed that Lt. Corley created a fictitious IDOC form that was used to conduct pranks and haze newer employees at IDOC. In this instance, Lt. Corley’s intended target was his subordinate, [IDOC Employee 1], who had been working at IDOC for [Identifying Information Redacted]. On October 26, 2018, [IDOC Employee 1] encountered an inmate who put his genitals through the cell bars and was masturbating towards [IDOC Employee 1]. After [IDOC Employee 1] wrote the inmate a sexual misconduct ticket, Lt. Corley directed [IDOC Employee 1] to draw a picture of the incident and sign his name to the fictitious IDOC form. Unbeknownst to [IDOC Employee 1], this fictitious IDOC form was not part of IDOC protocol but instead was done for Lt. Corley’s and others’ amusement. The fictitious form was shared with an extensive number of other IDOC employees, including other Lieutenants, Majors, Assistant Wardens and the Warden, without anyone taking any timely action to stop the dissemination or correct the wrongdoing. In the months following the widespread dissemination of the form at Pontiac, [IDOC Employee 1] experienced numerous incidents of harassment, including anti-gay slurs, prank calls at work, graffiti with sexual connotations about him, and one incident in which a coworker pressed his body against [IDOC Employee 1]’s.
[IDOC Employee 1] repeatedly reported the harassment he experienced, to high-level managers at Pontiac, as well as to IDOC administrators. Although [IDOC Employee 1]’s written submissions detailing the prank and subsequent harassment were referred to IDOC’s Office of Affirmative Action, and specifically stated that [IDOC Employee 1] believed he was being harassed based on his perceived sexual orientation, Affirmative Action elected not to open an investigation, on the basis that no covered class had been established. While [IDOC Employee 1]’s complaints were pending with Affirmative Action, he was reassigned to duty in the towers, and the harassment continued. On multiple occasions he requested a hardship transfer to another IDOC facility, but those requests were denied, and he ultimately left IDOC employment.
Based on this investigation, the OEIG found that Lt. Corley and other Pontiac managers engaged in conduct unbecoming of IDOC supervisors; [IDOC Employee 1] was subjected to a hostile work environment at Pontiac, for which IDOC is responsible; a Pontiac Correctional Officer sexually harassed [IDOC Employee 1], the Warden mismanaged Pontiac Correctional Center, and the Affirmative Action Administrator committed misfeasance by failing to investigate [IDOC Employee 1]’s harassment complaints.
* The higher-ups helped create this culture…
Regarding the culture at Pontiac, Maj. Wheat agreed that some hazing is done to test [Identifying Information Redacted] and see what they are made of and build camaraderie, and added that the “teasing never ends.” […]
Maj. Cooper said that hazing has been going on at Pontiac for years, but that the incident with the Fictitious Form went “above and beyond” the “everyday” hazing because Lt. Corley took the time to create a form. He said that it was inappropriate for Lt. Corley to direct [IDOC Employee 1] to complete the Fictitious Form. When asked if, as a higher-ranked officer than Lt. Corley, he had a duty to report the inappropriate conduct, Maj. Cooper said, “I’d probably say we all have a duty to do that.” However, Maj. Cooper said he never had any discussions with Lt. Corley about the impropriety of his actions, other than that the group in the Shift Commander’s office on October 26, 2018 might have told Lt. Corley that he was stupid. Maj. Cooper said he did not recall Warden Kennedy attempting to stop the spread of the Fictitious Form. […]
Asst. Warden Ruskin said she did not know who [IDOC Employee 1] was at that time, and that when she saw the Fictitious Form she laughed and thought it was funny that [Identifying Information Redacted] would fall for a prank like that.
Asst. Warden Ruskin said that news of the prank “went like wildfire,” and that it was “probably considered the most epic prank in Pontiac history.” […]
Asst. Warden French said that he thought the Fictitious Form was just a prank, but that in hindsight he should have talked to Lt. Corley or imposed discipline. […]
In her interview, Warden Kennedy recalled seeing the Fictitious Form for the first time in a text message when she was at a sporting event on a Saturday, and believes she may have received the text message from Asst. Warden Ruskin; she said she did not recall any dialogue about the image at that time.56 She acknowledged in her interview that it was not an official IDOC or Pontiac form. However, Warden Kennedy said she did not pay too much attention to it when she received it, and said that it “probably struck [her] as funny” because of the exaggerated male genitalia on the image.
* It wasn’t funny to the employee…
[IDOC Employee 1] told OEIG investigators that after the Fictitious Form was circulated throughout Pontiac, he experienced multiple harassing incidents at work, and that he submitted multiple incident reports and memoranda about them. He also submitted multiple requests to transfer to another facility, based on hardship. […]
[IDOC Employee 1] said that on one occasion, when he was leaving at the end of a shift, he was between the locked Gate 3 doors waiting for them to open, when [IDOC Employee 27] approached him from behind on [IDOC Employee 1]’s left side. He said [IDOC Employee 27] said, “hey [IDOC Employee 1]” in a lower- toned voice, then pressed his torso against the left side of [IDOC Employee 1]’s body, and touched his ([IDOC Employee 27]’s ) genitals against [IDOC Employee 1]’s left hand. [IDOC Employee 1] said [IDOC Employee 27] whispered, “do you want to draw this one?” into his ear. [IDOC Employee 1] said that this contact was unwelcome and unwanted, and that he immediately moved away from [IDOC Employee 27] . He said that another officer was also waiting for the gate to open, and asked [IDOC Employee 27] why he was standing so close to [IDOC Employee 1], and then [IDOC Employee 27] moved away from him.35 [IDOC Employee 1] described another incident, in which he heard someone shout from the East Catwalk, “[IDOC Employee 1]’s a fag,” so that inmates and other employees would have been able to hear; [IDOC Employee 1] said he did not see the person, but recognized the voice as [IDOC Employee 27] ’s. […]
[IDOC Employee 1] said that after he filed complaints against Lt. Corley, he was segregated from other Pontiac staff and inmates by being continuously assigned to Tower 21. He said that while he was working in Tower 21, he received many harassing telephone calls, which he said sounded like were [IDOC Employee 27] ’s voice. OEIG investigators obtained copies of [IDOC Employee 1]’s multiple incident reports dated November 24, 2018. The reports stated that [IDOC Employee 1] had received multiple calls that day in Tower 21, including calls in which the callers asked, “Are you done fingering your b*tthole yet?,” referred to him as a “f*ggot *ss b*tch,” and said, “I’m not f*cking with you.” […]
[IDOC Employee 1] also described several incidents of graffiti at Pontiac, which contained sexual references to him. He said he observed that someone had written on a refrigerator in Tower 20: “[IDOC Employee 10] wants [IDOC Employee 1] to call him and do butt stuff,” and that the name “[IDOC Employee 10]” was crossed out and “[IDOC Employee 21]” was written in. [IDOC Employee 1] said he saw [IDOC Employee 21] standing in front of the refrigerator, and then a short time later he observed that the name “[IDOC Employee 21]” had been crossed out and “[IDOC Employee 10]” was written in again. [IDOC Employee 1] said that he also observed that someone had written on the West Tower wall: “[IDOC Employee 10] wants to eat [IDOC Employee 1]’s tiny little butt hole.”
Investigators obtained copies of [IDOC Employee 1]’s two incident reports, which were dated March 18, 2019, described each incident of graffiti, and indicated that [IDOC Employee 1] observed both incidents on that date. The OEIG also obtained copies of photographs taken of the graffiti. The incident reports and the photographs were consistent with [IDOC Employee 1]’s description of the graffiti incidents in his interview.
* IDOC’s Office of Affirmative Action Administrator Fernando Chavarria was no help at all…
Mr. Chavarria said that as a result of [IDOC Employee 1]’s refusal to name a covered class in the interview, he made the decision to refer the complaint to Internal Affairs. Mr. Chavarria initially said that a complainant had to say the “magic words” in order for Affirmative Action to open an investigation, that is, the complainant had to tell him that he or she is in a specific covered class or is alleging sexual harassment.
Except, the employee’s statement included the phrase “sexual orientation.” And then there was this…
Mr. Chavarria was asked if he reviewed [IDOC Employee 12]’s report of her interview of [IDOC Employee 1], documenting that [IDOC Employee 1] had stated, among other things, that:
• on one occasion, [IDOC Employee 27] got “real close” to [IDOC Employee 1] and asked “Do you want to draw this one?”;
• [IDOC Employee 1] heard someone yell “[IDOC Employee 1] is a f*g” from the East Catwalk, and received calls referring to him as a “f*ggot *ss b*tch”; and that
• he felt like a target because of his perceived sexual orientation, and that he felt harassed and that it was making a hostile work environment.Mr. Chavarria said that he did not catch the above statements in [IDOC Employee 12]’s interview report and memorandum to him, and added, “bad one on me”; however, he said he still would have needed [IDOC Employee 1] to want Mr. Chavarria to use that information as a covered class.
* From the Inspector General’s analysis…
Prisons are already difficult and dangerous working environments, where staff face challenges posed by inmate misconduct on a daily basis. It is entirely unacceptable that staff at Pontiac Correctional Center also suffer mistreatment at work by their own coworkers and supervisors, due to the unprofessional working environment that flourishes there.
* The warden…
As Warden, Teri Kennedy was responsible for setting a professional tone at Pontiac, and promoting a working environment that ensured that all of her staff could successfully meet the significant challenges of their jobs. Instead, she turned a blind eye to a culture where pranks and sexual jokes were commonplace, and that apparently allowed virtually the entire upper management at the facility to think such behavior by some staff at the expense of others was acceptable.
Even accepting Mr. Chavarria’s erroneous view that an Affirmative Action investigation is not warranted unless a victim explicitly states “magic words” such as “sexual orientation,” the information provided to his office did exactly that. Affirmative Action should have opened and conducted an investigation to determine whether [IDOC Employee 1]’s allegations were substantiated, but Mr. Chavarria failed to do so. Nearly six months elapsed between Warden Kennedy’s initial referral of [IDOC Employee 1]’s complaints to Affirmative Action on November 28, 2018, and [IDOC Employee 11]’s reopening of her investigation after Mr. Chavarria declined to open an Affirmative Action investigation, and during that time [IDOC Employee 1] continued to experience harassment at Pontiac. It is difficult to understand what purpose the Office of Affirmative Action serves if its staff do not recognize allegations received of harassment based on a covered class or are allowed to ignore such allegations unless a victim verbally states the “magic words.”
Based on these findings, the OEIG recommends that Lt. Corley, Asst. Wardens French and Ruskin; Majs. Cooper, Prentice, Shelton, and Wheat; [IDOC Employee 27]; and Warden Kennedy be disciplined up to and including discharge, along with any other personnel IDOC determines to have engaged in similar misconduct regarding these incidents. The OEIG further recommends that IDOC remove Mr. Chavarria from his role pertaining to Affirmative Action matters, and train all Office of Affirmative Action staff on their obligations under the Administrative Directives. The OEIG also recommends that IDOC implement written procedures or formal practices governing hardship transfer requests.85 Finally, the OEIG recommends that the current Pontiac administration take any and all necessary steps to promote a professional working environment and culture for all staff who work there, and to ensure that any future similar misconduct is immediately addressed and eradicated.
A house cleaning is most definitely in order here. And, by the way, I only hit the high points. There’s more.
I have asked the governor’s office for a response.
*** UPDATE *** From IDOC…
“This behavior is entirely unacceptable and IDOC took the most severe disciplinary action possible against involved employees, including senior leadership. This included terminating multiple employees. IDOC takes this matter extremely seriously and has brought in new leadership at Pontiac and retrained the affirmative action unit on conducting thorough investigations to build an inclusive and supportive environment for all employees moving forward.”
Background:
Ruskin-terminated 3/16/2021
French-terminated 3/16/2021
Prentice – Pursued termination, Discharge reversed via the grievance process; retired in lieu of return on 10/31/2021
Shelton- Pursued termination, Discharge reversed via the grievance process; served 25 day suspension
Chavaria- served 30 day suspension; resigned 8/31/2021
Kennedy- retired prior to termination 12/31/2020
Wheat – Retired prior to discipline 6/30/2020
Cooper – Pursued termination; Retired 11/30/2021The affirmative action unit investigates harassment and discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. They also investigate sexual harassment and evaluate requests for reasonable accommodations. Additional trainings served to reinforce knowledge and skills related to conducting investigations in as thorough a manner as possible.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 10:57 am
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
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It’s time for them to go.
Comment by OneMan Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 11:16 am
One part…
Hazing never builds camaraderie.
Never.
Hazing undermines the self worth of individuals, and perpetuates humiliation or worse as “ritualistic respect going forward”
To the entirety…
All should be dismissed.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 11:22 am
Fire. Them. All.
Comment by West Sider Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 11:29 am
What OW said x2
Comment by Huh? Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 11:30 am
Fire them
Comment by Just a Citizen Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 11:31 am
I wonder if the prison staff get fired for cause, do they lose their pensions?
If so, they should not be allowed to retire in lieu of termination.
Comment by Huh? Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 11:32 am
I have to undergo anti-harassment and bystander training every year. From that training I can tell you that the most important point is that it was not funny to employee #1. Kudos to the other employee who intervened and asked employee #27 why he was standing so close to employee #1 during the incident at gate #3.
In the corporate environment, all of this would be very serious matters.
Comment by cermak_rd Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 11:32 am
Those wardens were let go a couple of years ago for a separate incident. I believe at least one of those majors had retired too. Let’s hope there’s been a culture change in the past couple years. Sounds like there needs to be.
Comment by Duke of Normandy Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 11:33 am
Wonder which Deputy Governor is going to take the lead on cleaning up this mess.
Comment by Sonny Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 11:35 am
Trying to imagine the kind of mind that finds this type of pranking to be “funny.” I hope the employee who suffered the harassment ultimately receives some compensation for what he suffered.
Comment by Crispy Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 11:46 am
This doesn’t seem like a very presidential problem to have. Anxious to see the Governor’s response.
Comment by Candy Dogood Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 11:46 am
===I have to undergo anti-harassment and bystander training every year.===
Same here, as do all state employees. If you pay a minimal amount of attention to the training, you know this is not only wrong ethically but legally as well. The attitudes of the supervisors and the official in charge of dealing with such complaints is so off the charts horrible that you wonder what else has been ignored.
Comment by Pot calling kettle Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 11:48 am
“everyday hazing”? “Just a prank”?
I don’t think so. These people need to be gone.
Comment by JoanP Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 11:53 am
Been to Pointiac, in a professional capacity. It’s a hard place. You definitely feel like you must be aware of your surroundings every second. How a correctional officer can function when they have been shunned and ostracized, I can’t imagine. The culture in IDOC is broken, has been a long time. They are about a custodial function exclusively. No reform.
Comment by Give Us Barabbas Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 11:56 am
=do they lose their pensions=
Only if they are convicted of a job-connected felony
Comment by Davos Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 12:06 pm
Send a message. Fire them. Pension considerations should not enter into the picture. Send a message. I would love to believe that mandated trainings can overcome this ignorance and hate. Realistically it rarely if ever does. Fire them. Thayer your message
Comment by Stormsw7706 Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 12:09 pm
I wouldn’t be surprised if this was common in all correction facilities. Those are terrible environments and bring out the worst behavior.
Comment by don the legend Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 12:24 pm
=== Anxious to see the Governor’s response. ===
He didn’t bother responding to two staff being stabbed there a couple of weeks ago.
Comment by Southern Dude Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 12:34 pm
When well-paying civil service jobs are located in rural-ish areas without many well-paying jobs, jobs become “possessions” and rooting out this sort of criminality becomes very difficult.
Comment by Anyone Remember Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 12:36 pm
I would call this a culture of toxic masculinity but the warden and assistant warden are female. You have to wonder how they would have responded if the target had been a straight woman rather than a perceived as gay male.
Comment by Big Dipper Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 12:39 pm
This is terrible for Employee 1, but remember that everyone involved in this is also responsible for the health, safety, and welfare of hundreds of inmates.
I have had friends who have worked in corrections, all of whom quit as soon as they had something better lined up. The culture of corrections agencies in the US is completely broken, and this is just more evidence of it.
Comment by Homebody Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 12:44 pm
The report was sent to IDOC in October 2020 (over two years ago). It took them a long time to figure out what to do.
Ultimately, they fired three people, suspended five people, and allowed two people to retire before any action could be taken pursuant to the report.
In other words, five of these offenders are still working in the prison and two are collecting pensions…
Comment by downstate dem Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 1:08 pm
These calls to “Fire them all” are an overreaction. There are undoubtedly varying degrees of culpability here. We just don’t know what steps lower level staffers may have been taking to ameliorate the situation that got overruled. Plus never take an OEIG report as gospel. They can be sensationalistic at times.
It will be interesting to see if Chavarria faces any discipline. He is not exempt. Building a case for failure to take action is harder than building one for misplaced action.
Comment by Original Rambler Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 1:15 pm
If they will abuse their co-workers like this, then how much worse must they abuse the prisoners under their control?
– MrJM
Comment by MisterJayEm Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 1:17 pm
=== These calls to “Fire them all” are an overreaction. There are undoubtedly varying degrees of culpability here.===
The millisecond culpability is used… that millisecond… that’s why they all should be fired.
Trying to layer “culpability” is a way to diminish responsibility.
Nope.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 1:23 pm
Another agency that ran amok… doubling the salary of Dep Gov’s doesn’t seem to have delivered capable people to actually run this State. JB has gotten much right, but running day to day operations has got to be better.
Comment by Lincoln Lad Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 1:32 pm
“There are undoubtedly varying degrees of culpability here.”
The ole culpability parse…is played…out.
Comment by Dotnonymous Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 2:03 pm
Jbs watch. Immediate response and action required.no sugarcoating. Governors ” own”…
Comment by Rent free Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 2:04 pm
@big dipper: You hit the nail on the head. I couldn’t agree more. Great post, thanks.
Comment by Jerry Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 2:22 pm
After appropriate due process, termination may well be in order. Fair enough. Changing the culture will be much more challenging. The folks work in a de-humanizing institution. Some of the prisoners are likely trying to serve their time and get out and move on. Maybe most. Unfortunately, too many “act” like they aren’t human, they expose themselves, act in vulgar ways and offer nothing but abuse to the prison staff. These acts accumulate and overtime affect the personalities of all involved. The bar on acceptable behavior is lowered. A joke that would be offensive and revolting on LaSalle Street barely ripples in the context of being exposed to public masturbation and have feces thrown at you.
What happened here was absolutely wrong but it will continue to recur unless the environment changes.
Out of law school nearly forty years ago, a classmate went to work for the Cook County SAO. Two years out his sense of humor and personality became course to the point of being offensive. It takes an enormous amount of personal strength to avoid being drawn into the immediate environment.
I don’t envy the folks trying to solve this problem but I do agree they need to do better.
Comment by What's in a name? Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 2:34 pm
“A joke to build comraderie”.
That’s what they called telling the employee he had to make the drawing for the “official report”.
Can someone explain to me how that’s funny?
Comment by btowntruthfromforgottonia Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 2:48 pm
Just wonder how they treat the prisoners?
Comment by flea Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 2:51 pm
The biggest mental health operations in the state are the Cook county jail and IDOC. Behavioral health is massively under funded to begin with and DOC does not do health care well. At all. That explains the inmates. Not the behavioral problems of the CO’s. Or wardens.
Comment by Give Us Barabbas Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 2:54 pm
It’s not even original, it’s a plot point in Porky’s
Comment by ArchPundit Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 3:05 pm
=That explains the inmates.=
Justifying a prisoner’s conduct because of mental behavior, without any insight on their record. But then condoning the behavior of the IDOC.
Both are wrong, stop this nonsense.
Comment by Almost the Weekend Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 3:12 pm
===it’s a plot point in Porky’s===
Whoa, spoiler alert.
Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 3:58 pm
If this does not get you fired from an IDOC job, what is the line that folks must never cross, Governor?
Tim Mapes had already been fired, packed, and set outside the door by 4:15 pm.
What’s taking so long?
Comment by Handy Andy Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 4:10 pm
===Tim Mapes had already been fired, packed, and set outside the door by 4:15 pm.===
Mapes didn’t have a union to protect him.
Also, see the update. And if it doesn’t have one, the state should implement a “do-not-hire” list for cases like this. I’d hate to see any of these folks back on the state payroll.
Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 4:49 pm
Almost all abused prisoners have an out date…they return to our streets and live/walk among us…do remember.
Prisons are designed to punish…they could be designed to actually rehabilitate…your future neighbor?
Comment by Dotnonymous Monday, Dec 5, 22 @ 4:58 pm