The News Journal
03/08/2006
A female guard says the Delaware Department of Correction violated her rights because officials took little action when naked photos of her circulated among prison staff and inmates in 2004.
Corrine Padilla, of Sussex County, says the sexually explicit photos were taken while she was in a committed relationship a year earlier.
The facts of Padilla's lawsuit, filed this month in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, mirror those of an August lawsuit by another female corrections officer, who said she was humiliated and harassed when bogus pornographic photos, purported to be of her, were circulated among staff and inmates at a different prison.
Padilla's attorney did not return phone calls for comment, so it could not be determined if the lawsuits were connected.
The suit did not explain how the photos ended up in the hands of prison staffers and inmates at the Delaware Correctional Center, near Smyrna, where Padilla worked.
Department of Correction spokeswoman Beth Welch declined to comment.
According to Padilla's lawsuit, the photos began to circulate around October 2004, making "her assigned duties more difficult and dangerous, particularly if circulated among inmates over whom she was supposed to exercise control."
After an "unwarranted delay and deterioration of [Padilla's] working conditions," the department moved her to a job in Sussex County with probation and parole, according to the suit. But Padilla said that after she filed a complaint with labor officials, she was told she was going to be transferred back to her duties in Smyrna.
Similar suit filed last year
The lawsuit claims that the state Department of Labor found "reasonable cause" to believe that corrections officials had created a "sexually hostile and potentially sexually violent workplace atmosphere" for Padilla. According to the suit, Padilla is currently off work because of an injury.
Her charges are similar to those of Karen Brandewie, another female guard, who filed a federal suit against the Department of Correction last year.
Brandewie said in court papers that she was pressured by a co-worker at Sussex Correctional Institute in Georgetown to have sex while on duty and shortly after she declined in early 2003, a rumor began to circulate that she appeared in photos on a pornographic Web site.
Brandewie claims the person in the photos was someone who vaguely resembled her.
Brandewie said the rumor and copies of the photos from the Web site spread to the inmate population, making her work difficult and subjecting her to harassment.
In her suit, Brandewie claimed she was told by superiors to ignore the harassment because it was "a common occurrence for female officers when they first arrive."
Like Padilla, Brandewie accused the department of violating her rights by inaction.
Contact Sean O'Sullivan at 324-2777 or sosullivan@delawareonline.com.
