Former Jail Officer Sues Rockland County

Nyack resident Valerie Russell used to be a corrections officer in Rockland.

Now she has filed a federal lawsuit against the county, plus County Executive Ed Day, County Sheriff Louis Falco and Anthony Volpe, the chief of the Rockland County Correctional Facility.

In her lawsuit Russell paints a picture of a work environment charged with sexual harassment and gender discrimination that persisted despite her complaints to union representatives and supervisors. Here are examples of her allegations:

• She was called “the new jailhouse whore” by co-workers in front of not only other officers but also inmates.
• Along with enduring comments about how her uniform pants fit, she had a fellow officer comment about what he and their co-workers would ”do to that ‘ass’ because it looked so ‘good.’”
• Another officer took photos up her skirt.
• One of the standing jokes apparently was a “list” of officers with whom she had purportedly slept—fellow officers would ask how they could get on the list and those who were supposed to be on the list would ask how she thought they performed in bed.
• Co-workers shared stories of their sexual exploits with her.
• An inmate told her he knew her address and that he had learned it from another officer.
• Stories that she had slept with inmates and other officers circulated—were shared with her.

It was an incident at the annual golf outing that led to Russell filing a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, according to the lawsuit. She heard from a co-worker that an officer told others he “knew” she had slept with at least nine other officers. Then, though the EEOC complaint was supposed to be confidential, she learned of inquiries about it from other officers.

Two father-son duos were involved in incidents detailed in the lawsuit. Most of the officers involved are identified only by initial in the filing.

The lawsuit also contends that she was denied opportunities that were given to other officers.

Russell seeks compensatory and punitive damages, costs and back pay, and changes at the jail including workplace harassment training and a clear complaint investigation procedure.

Spokesmen for Day and Falco had no comment about the lawsuit.