The US Justice Department is suing the Michigan Department of Corrections for discriminating against women who work at its only prison for female inmates.
The lawsuit says the state forces female corrections officers at the Huron Valley Corrections Facility near Ypsilanti to work unnecessary overtime, and has denied transfers to women – while granting them to male officers with less seniority.
The department’s been trying to recruit more women to work in the prison following lawsuits that alleged mistreatment of female inmates by male guards.
But the new complaint says the corrections department is assigning women to positions that don’t involve direct or private contact with inmates, and can be handled by male officers.
