By C1 Staff
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — A female counselor has filed a civil rights lawsuit alleging a hostile work environment, wrongful failure to promote and retaliation.
PennLive reports that Melissa A. Reed, a corrections counselor at SCI-Rockview since December 2007, states that a man with less seniority and experience was given a promotion over her.
She also says that her safety concerns have not been addressed, citing the receipt of over 100 letters from an unidentified inmate that were of a sexual nature or focused on her personal characteristics.
That inmate was eventually transferred to another facility, but yet another inmate sent her a letter threatening to rape her. That inmate was placed in solitary but later moved to her cell block, she claims.
When she complained about his return, she was transferred to a treatment specialist position. She eventually regained her old position, through grievances, but not her old caseload.
She says she requested safety measures that included repairing the panic alarm in her office, changing the locks on her office door and providing her a two-way radio, which she does now have access to.
The suit accused an unnamed deputy in 2013 of calling others who requested such safety measures “scaredy cats.”
Reed claims she continues to receive periodic notes of a sexual nature from an unidentified inmate and that her other safety concerns have not been addressed.
In 2013, an inmate raped a female employee of SCI-Rockview when the inmate was left alone with the woman for 27 minutes. She blew an emergency whistle, but no help came.