Skip navigation
× You have 2 more free articles available this month. Subscribe today.

$130,000 Settlement in Former Prison Employee Harassment Suit

In 1999, Thomas G. Bailor, filed a law suit against the Delaware
Correctional Center (DCC), after he was forced to quit his job as an
internal affairs investigator, for filing a report accusing prison guards
of misconduct.

Bailor, was investigating charges that prison guards beat prisoners with
sticks while they were handcuffed and shackled, during a riot at DCC, in
1997. Bailor interviewed several witnesses including prisoners and prison
guards, who confirmed that some prison guards beat prisoners, while they
were cuffed and shackled during the riot. Bailor then filed a 44-Page
report outlining the witnesses' claims. The report reached the prison
officials at DCC, and was then sent back to Bailor with orders to rewrite
it. He then filed another report that was only 6-pages, and told his
supervisor that the order to rewrite the report meant that DCC, officials
were attempting to cover up the incident. Bailor, then quit his job,
claiming that he was punished for filing the report and was forced out of
the Department of Corrections (DOC).

The DOC, released a statement, claiming that all of Bailor's claims were
false, and said "We did nothing wrong." However, that statement was made
after the DOC, settled Bailor's claim for $130,000, and the DOC, said that
the settlement was "fundamentally a business decision." Also, four months
prior to settling Bailor's claim, a jury awarded $251,000, to two former
DCC, prison guards, who were also forced from their jobs for turning in
other guards who beat prisoners in the 1997 riot, at DCC. Bailor received
$61,266, and his attorney Laurence V. Cronin, received $68,734, from the
settlement.

Source: The News Journal (Wilmington, DE), January 19, 2002.

As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.

Subscribe today

Already a subscriber? Login

Related legal case

Bailor v. Taylor