By Nancy West
The Union Leader
New Hampshire Sunday News
MANCHESTER, N.H. — The president of the state corrections officer union, who was suspended without pay after allegedly fighting with a co-worker, is suing the Department of Corrections for damages and seeking immediate reinstatement of his pay and benefits.
Mark Jordan of Manchester wants an immediate hearing on his pay and health insurance, but is also seeking compensatory damages, according to his attorney, Charles G. Douglas III of Concord.
Jordan, who makes about $48,000 a year, was suspended for allegedly pushing and punching a co-worker.
He insists he was attacked by Sgt. Thomas Messina in a March 10 incident in the men’s prison parking lot and was just trying to defend himself.
Messina said he can’t comment because the incident is being investigated.
The lawsuit makes clear Jordan’s belief that he is being targeted for aggressively representing as president the 400 members of Local 250 of the New England Police Benevolent Association.
The union has started a relief fund for him and another suspended corrections officer, Jeffrey Bettez, according to its website.
Jordan has been outspoken, alleging corruption within the prison, and warning that violence is out of control inside the walls because of staff cutbacks.
“It’s very disheartening that the very people that are supposed to be the guardians of the law would so willfully violate it with no oversight or accountability,” said Jordan.
Corrections Commissioner William Wrenn declined to comment on the lawsuit, filed in Merrimack County Superior Court, calling it a personnel matter, but has vigorously defended prison safety in the past.
“I think the staff does a fabulous job at maintaining the safety and security of that environment here in Concord, in Berlin and Goffstown,” Wrenn said.
A headline on the NEPBA website states: “New Hampshire Department of Corrections attempts to bankrupt officers.”
The article quotes its executive director Jerry Flynn: “NO law enforcement officer should be subjected to financial ruin because of unsubstantiated allegations against them.”
Officer Jeffrey Bettez, an 11-year employee, has been on unpaid suspension since January.
“Officer Bettez has been accused of assault by an inmate who has a long prior history of assaulting officers and fabricating charges against staff. Despite eyewitness staff accounts that Officer Bettez was coming to the aid of his partner who was in the process of being assaulted by the accusing inmate, Commissioner Wrenn chose to believe the convicted felon and suspended Officer Bettez without pay, then cancelled his health insurance,” the article states.
Bettez and Jordan have appealed their suspensions to the state Personnel Appeals Board and are awaiting decisions.
Jordan’s civil lawsuit “seeks temporary relief and/or damages to continue on state health insurance pending the outcome of a ridiculously long investigation into a simple assault on him by a fellow corrections employee.”
It should have taken just a few days, not several months, to complete the investigation into what happened because there were four eyewitnesses who back Jordan’s account, the suit alleges.
Also named in the lawsuit are Anthem Health Plans of New Hampshire and Trooper Stephen Puckett, who is conducting the investigation.
Jordan has a brain malformation that could lead to a stroke or death, according to the suit. Jordan said it is never clear from one day to the next whether his health insurance remains in force.
“They can’t have it both ways — still have him as an employee, but not pay him or provide insurance,” Douglas said. “Mark Bodi (state liquor commissioner) has been out on ninety-eight grand a year for longer than this guy. Jordan is head of the union so he’s being punished for that reason,” Douglas said.
Douglas argues that Jordan has been constructively discharged, “sent home without pay and benefits for so long he might as well have been fired.” “We want an injunction hearing on his suspension of pay and health insurance and then a trial on the economics before a jury,” Douglas said.
Douglas said he expects a hearing will be scheduled once everyone is served, which could be as soon as this week.
Copyright 2010 Union Leader Corp.