A complaint has been filed with the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Equal Employment Opportunity Office by a Danbury Federal Correctional Institute employee. Shaun Boylan, a financial program specialist and vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1661 filed the complaint February 11th.
He claims to have been repeatedly retaliated against for engaging in union activities, including a tour organized for Connecticut's two U.S. Senators and members of the state legislative delegation. Hearst Connecticut Media reports that the complaint says that Boylan feels inmates will hear his supervisor telling employees she is investigating him and that criminal charges are pending against him, putting his life and physical safety in jeopardy.
A Bureau of Prisons spokesperson says the agency is committed to instituting policies, procedures, and principles that foster the achievement of the Equal Employment Opportunity mission and workplaces free of harassment and discrimination.
Following the abruptly ended abbreviated tour by Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal earlier this month, an Occupational Safety and Health Administration complaint was filed. An anonymous employee alleges a toxic work environment and infrastructure problems that could put staff and inmates at risk for physical injury. The Senators were told by prison officials that they couldn't enter several areas, some of which are now the subject of the OSHA complaint.
A Bureau of Prisons spokesperson says the allegations are being reviewed and investigated.
The complaint involves standing sewage and water in tunnels where employees work; steam condensation shorting out electrical panels; uncovered electrical boxes; leaks in the inmate housing area; and a lack of snow and ice removal on walkways that allegedly caused an employee to fall and break a leg. OSHA sent to the document to the prison’s warden, Jennifer McGettigan, who must conduct her own investigation of the hazards and provide remedies or a plan for remedies to OSHA.
