Quoted Text

Guard: Slurs aired at jail
Schenectady County correction officer says some colleagues have created a hostile work environment

By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer
First published in print: Friday, November 7, 2008

SCHENECTADY -- A black female correction officer claims a co-worker used the racial slur "spear chucker" over the internal radio communication system at the Schenectady County Jail last month.
     
Andrea Smith of Schenectady said there is a "general atmosphere of racial and sexual discrimination" at the facility and jail officials retaliated against her when she reported several incidents to her union, according to a complaint Smith filed Oct. 30 with the state Division of Human Rights.

"It's a very hostile work environment," she said in an interview this week. .

Smith, who has been on the job since 2003, said some white male correction officers regularly use the word "b**ch" over the internal radio system and that African-American inmates are frequently called the n-word and treated more harshly than white prisoners.......
.......http://timesunion.com/AspStori.....p;newsdate=11/7/2008