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Lawsuit Claims Sexual Harassment At Hernando Jail

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By KYLE MARTIN

Hernando Today

Published: January 16, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - A sexual harassment suit has been filed against the Hernando County jail by a former corrections officer who claims she received a "constant barrage" of lewd comments from her superiors.

The suit filed Tuesday holds the company that runs the jail, Corrections Corporation of America, partially responsible for allegedly not responding to her complaints.

CCA's inaction led to a "discriminatorily abusive working environment," the lawsuit says.

A spokesman for the Nashville-based company wouldn't comment on pending litigation, as per policy. Warden Russell Washburn said the same Thursday.

The former officer, Stephanie Maggard, is also filing a claim against CCA under the Florida Civil Rights Act. She alleges CCA knew about previous complaints against the officers involved, but did nothing to stop it or protect her from the "danger."

The suit asks for unspecified compensation on a variety of grounds, including back pay, punitive damages and re-instatement to her job.

The lawyer who filed the suit, Ryan Barack, said Thursday his client was employed at the jail from 1998 through 2004, then returned in 2006 for a year.

The lawsuit alleges other female officers complained prior to Maggard, but Barack wouldn't elaborate on how long that occurred before Maggard's arrival.

"There's a history of problems at that facility," he said.

The suit alleges the abuse began even as Maggard completed her orientation at the jail on Spring Hill Drive. An officer at the jail who is not named as a defendant told his co-workers from the outset that he intended to pursue Maggard "romantically," the lawsuit states.

The abuse continued from there, the lawsuit says, to include following her into the women's restroom and offering her gifts in exchange for sex.

When Maggard complained to her supervisor, Capt. Adam Nigro, a defendant in the lawsuit, Nigro reportedly dismissed the claims. Instead, he threatened Maggard would work the night shift and receive assignments in the worst part of the jail if she complained, according to the lawsuit.

The officer who initiated the abuse eventually left his job at the jail, but, the lawsuit says Nigro picked up where he left off. The complaints against him include making crude sexual remarks and touching Maggard against her will.

At one point, the lawsuit says, an uninvolved officer warned Nigro that he was going "to get slapped with a sexual harassment lawsuit for this conduct."

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

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