A U.S. District Court jury in Wilmington began hearing a lawsuit against the state prison system Monday by a former Delaware correctional officer who said she was sexually harassed at work.
Patricia Lowman, 31, of Dover, filed the lawsuit against the Department of Correction in February 2001. She seeks unspecified damages for what she claims was retaliation after she reported the harassment in 1999.
Lowman quit her job at Gander Hill prison in Wilmington in February and took a job in a video store after the situation grew unbearable, her attorney, Barbara H. Stratton, argued in court Monday.
Deputy Attorney General Michael F. Foster, who is defending the prison system, told jurors in an opening statement that prison officials acted swiftly to root out the problem and should not be held liable.
Lowman was accepted into correctional officers' training in the fall of 1998, and was thrilled to begin a law-enforcement career, Stratton told the jury.
But Stratton said a sergeant, who was not present in court, stared at Lowman while she was working, asked her what her boyfriend thought of where she worked, walked out of his way to brush against her in hallways, pressed himself against her from behind and began referring to her as his girlfriend.
"He gave her the creeps, but she was on probation and didn't want to rock the boat," Stratton said.
Lowman talked with a lieutenant about the situation in March 1999 and wrote a complaint five days later after a meeting with prison officials, Stratton said. The attorney said other female employees had similar experiences with the sergeant and she argued that too little was done to address his behavior. High-ranking prison officials never underwent sexual-harassment training until the situation with Lowman, she said.
"It takes training at the top for sexual harassment to stop," she said.
Lowman worried about encountering the sergeant in the prison parking lot, Stratton said. She sometimes asked a co-worker to spend the night at her home so she didn't have to be alone.
The sergeant quit his job in June 1999 after an internal-affairs investigation, but Lowman maintains other supervisors began retaliating against her for his departure and a captain told her complaining about that would jeopardize her career.
She claims she was docked eight hours of pay in December when her vehicle slid off the road as she was driving to work after a snowfall. She drove despite her arm being in a sling, she said. Lowman claims other employees who did not make it to work that day were allowed to use vacation time.
Defense attorney Foster argued the department moved quickly to address problems with the sergeant, whom he called "obnoxious, crude, unintelligent and undeserving to be on the payroll."
The former sergeant, who could not be reached Monday, spent only three more days on the job after Lowman's written complaint was received. He was suspended and did not return before resigning in June 1999.
Foster denied there was any hidden punishment in the way Lowman was treated for missing work during the snowstorm. Correctional officers are needed at work no matter what the weather, he said.
The trial in front of U.S. District Judge Joseph J. Farnan Jr. is expected to continue all week.
Reach Mary Allen at 324-2794 or mallen@delawareonline.com.
