Women Prisoners of the District of Columbia Department of Corrections v. District of Columbia

968 F. Supp. 744, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8913, 1997 WL 361600
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedJune 16, 1997
DocketCA 93-2052
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 968 F. Supp. 744 (Women Prisoners of the District of Columbia Department of Corrections v. District of Columbia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Women Prisoners of the District of Columbia Department of Corrections v. District of Columbia, 968 F. Supp. 744, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8913, 1997 WL 361600 (D.D.C. 1997).

Opinion

ORDER

JUNE L. GREEN, District Judge.

Upon consideration of the Joint Stipulated Motion of the parties filed January 27, 1997; *745 the Plaintiffs’ February 11, 1997 Motion to Withdraw their January 11, 1997 Motion for a Court Appointed Expert Witness Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 706; the Plaintiffs’ March 3, 1997 Motion for Attorneys’ Fees and Costs; the Plaintiffs’ May 14, Status Report following the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of their petition for certiorari, and Defendants’ response thereto, it is by the Court this 16th day of June, 1997,

ORDERED that the parties’ Joint Stipulated Motion of January 27,1997 be GRANTED as follows:

1) the Court STAYS any order an award of attorneys fees and costs as set out in the Plaintiffs’ March 3,1997, request, and orders the parties to engage in negotiations over any amount of attorney fees and costs to be awarded; such negotiations shall take place over the next 60 (sixty) days, and the parties shall report back to the Court no later than August 15, 1997 regarding the resolution of this matter.

ORDER FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF

2) By agreement of the parties, other issues that remain before this Court following the mandate of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit are addressed as follows:

1. The Defendants’ actions and inactions violated and continue to violate the Plaintiff class members’ rights under the Fifth and Eighth Amendments to the United States Constitution, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 (1988).

2. The Defendants are ordered to take all action necessary to remedy and prevent the violations of the Plaintiffs’ above-mentioned rights. The Defendants have been ordered, in the prior Orders identified above, to take specific measures in the areas of sexual harassment, education and vocation programs, and environmental and fire safety, as set forth below beginning with paragraph 4.

3. All measures ordered by the Court set forth below should have been completed and effective within six months of entry of the Order, dated December 13, 1994, unless otherwise specified, except that ¶ 19 should have been completed and effective within six months of entry of the Order dated March 15, 1995, and ¶¶ 11, 15, 16, 18, 23, -26, 27, 29, 33, 50, 58, and 59 should have been completed and effective within six months of entry of the Supplemental Order, dated August 14, 1995.

I. SEXUAL HARASSMENT

4. Within 60 days, the Defendants shall write and follow a Department Order prohibiting sexual harassment involving District of Columbia Department of Corrections (DCDC) employees and women prisoners. The Defendants shall post and circulate the Department Order in accordance with departmental policy.

5. Under this policy the DCDC has the obligation to take appropriate steps to prevent and remedy sexual harassment committed by its own employees.

6. Prohibited conduct under the policy shall be defined as:

a. Sexual harassment which includes:
(1) all unwelcome sexual activity directed by any DCDC employee at a prisoner including acts of sexual intercourse, oral sex, or sexual touching and any attempt to commit these acts; and
(2) all unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other unwelcome verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature directed by any DCDC employee at a prisoner; and
b. Invasions of women prisoners’ privacy by male employees without a valid penological reason, including the failure of any male employee to announce his presence when entering a female housing unit.
e. Retaliation for reporting complaints of, assisting any individual in making a report of, or cooperating in an investigation of sexual harassment, regardless of the merits or the disposition of the underlying complaint. Retaliatory conduct includes the following actions *746 taken against a prisoner in response to that prisoner’s complaint of sexual harassment or cooperation in the reporting or investigation of sexual harassment: disciplining, changing work or program assignments of, transferring to another facility of, or placing under involuntary protective custody any prisoner.
d. Any breach of confidentiality by any employee concerning any report of sexual harassment.
e. Any interference with investigations of sexual harassment.

7. Penalties for prohibited conduct under the policy shall be determined by the Director of the DCDC within 30 days.

8. Women prisoners shall be able to report instances of sexual harassment through the existing Inmate Grievance Procedure (IGP) as specified in Department Order 4030.1D. The Defendants shall strictly adhere to the Inmate Grievance Procedure and shall establish an Inmate Grievance Advisory Committee (IGAC) as required by Section VII(C) of Department Order 4030.1D.

9. Women prisoners shall also be able to submit IGP’s or complaints concerning sexual harassment in any form, orally or in writing, to any DCDC employee, who must submit the information, in writing, to the Warden of the facility within 24 hours of receiving the information. Women prisoners may also submit IGP’s or complaints to prisoner representative to the IGAC.

10. The Defendants shall establish a confidential hot line, under the supervision of the Director of the DCDC, through which women prisoners can report allegations of sexual harassment.

11. Failure of an employee to report any allegation of sexual misconduct or any facts and circumstances which would lead a reasonable employee to believe that sexual misconduct is occurring or has occurred shall subject the employee to discipline.

12. Upon receipt of any allegation of an act of unwelcome sexual intercourse or any allegation of unwelcome sexual touching, the Defendants must notify the proper law enforcement agency. The Defendants shall communicate with the law enforcement agency concerning the status of any investigation. The Defendants must periodically document the status of police investigations. The occurrence of a police investigation does not reheve the Defendants of the duty to investigate.

13. The identity of the target of the alleged sexual harassment shall be revealed only to those who have an immediate need to know, including the alleged harasser(s) or retaliator(s) and any witnesses. All parties contacted in the course of an investigation will be advised that any retaliation, reprisal, or breach of confidentiality is a separate actionable offense as provided in the schedule of penalties.

14.

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Bluebook (online)
968 F. Supp. 744, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8913, 1997 WL 361600, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/women-prisoners-of-the-district-of-columbia-department-of-corrections-v-dcd-1997.