Hello. I am writing you this in hope that you can assist not only me, but everyone that was wrongfully terminated by Warden Adams and the administrative duty officer (ADO) staff at Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility (TCCF). I was an employee at TCCF for 2 years before I was terminated by Wardens Adams and Blair for retaliatory reasons (I called the “Whistleblower” hotline (as it is referred to) for the many wrongdoings that were being committed by the leaders of the SORT team (Special Operations Response Team) and the ADO staff attempts to sweep everything under the rug (the contract with California requires that a response be on call 24 hours; meaning that the ADO staff preferred to just have a SORT team (obviously for business reasons) rather than have a SORT team that was run properly according to company policies and fired me).
CCA has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in building/keeping TCCF open so it would make more business sense to sacrifice those wrongfully terminated employees rather than risk losing the contract for what they are doing (the many policies they are violating) and keep the prison open and it seems like the Tallahatchie County Board of Supervisors are allowing this to go on (despite knowing what’s going on). They DO NOT want that prison to close down and lose all of those tax dollars (and additional revenue) that the prison brings to the county and to the town of Tutwiler, a small black town in the Mississippi Delta so, despite a lot of former employees (that were wrongfully terminated by the previous warden) and CURRENT employees complaining about the current working conditions at TCCF at the Tallahatchie County Board of Supervisors meeting last month, NOTHING has been done. Despite ALL of the wrongfully terminated employees being added to the "REHIRE" list and being assured that we would get our jobs back, NOTHING has been done. I received a CERTIFIED letter from the current warden stating that I was NOT ELIGBLE for REHIRE because of the way I was terminated, but Cindy Koehn, who works at Humans Resources at the corporate level at CCA, said that because of my CLEAN work record, that I was eligible for REHIRE in November.
CCA has a history of building prisons in poor, rural areas promising to bring jobs as well as an economic boost to that area. Although those areas (such as Tutwiler) DO receive that boost, there are usually plenty of problems that come along with CCA building facilities in those areas. The company feels that they can take advantage of the employees in that area because of the lack of education that usually associated in those areas (like the Mississippi Delta). That’s why CCA has been sued on NUMEROUS occasions over the years for their practices. However, because of Mississippi’s At Will status, it’s close to impossible to get any attorney to seriously look at our situations.
It seems like everything was exposed at the Tallahatchie County Board of Supervisors meeting last month concerning the questionable practices of not only Warden Adams and other members of the ADO staff, but also Human Resources Manager Mr. Davis and his steadfast refusal to not rehire ANYONE that was wrongfully terminated by the ADO staff last year. Here is the email I sent to the current (acting) Warden Phillips in response to a certified letter he sent stating I was not eligible for rehire (I also sent this email to Cindy Koehn (who works at Human Resources at the corporate level at CCA, who said I was ELIGIBLE FOR REHIRE in November only 2 months after I was terminated) and Jimmy Turner:
Hello Mr. Phillips. I just received your letter concerning not being rehired by TCCF and I feel that's not right. I feel that the meeting last month in Charleston was just for show then if EVERYONE knows I was wrongfully terminated by Warden Adams and I went thru the grievance process (as has everyone else who was wrongfully terminated) and you KNOW that Mr. Garner was NOT going to overturn his buddy Adams' grievance (not only mines but everyone other individual who was wrongfully terminated and submitted a grievance).
Now everyone has a termination on their record that apparently you can't get rehired for (when Miss Koehn (who last time I checked, still works at CCA at corporate HQ in human resources), said I WAS ELIGIBLE for REHIRE in November), so that's why I feel that everyone who attended that meeting in April was led on (including the Tallahatchie County Board of Supervisors). All of our names were supposedly put on the “rehire list” and told to fill out applications, but since all of us were fired the same way, it seems like there's no way that we can get rehired. That's not right. All the wrongfully terminated individuals were lead on thinking they would get their jobs back (because I really need mines back) and that all we need to do was fill out another application and we should get our jobs back soon, but apparently I am assuming if I got the certified letter that the other individuals have received one as well and that's just plain wrong. There have been classes held since that meeting and NONE of us have been placed in those classes. People's lives have been affected by these terminations and everyone KNOWS they were wrong, but it seems everyone in power who can do something about it is turning a blind eye to it and just letting these terminations stand. If it were just me, then I could look at it from your point of view as me just being another disgruntled former employee, but when SEVERAL individuals were wrongfully fired in the same manner as me (I will state once again that my record was BASICALLY CLEAN while everyone in power at TCCF is still letting individuals like C/O D. Leavy, who has SEVERAL PSN's and suspensions on her record but still works there), then that's where I think it's just plain wrong.
I would like a response to this, but it seems like no one is willing to provide an answer to me via phone call or email. Mr. Garner sent a certified letter as well to myself as well as the other terminated employees who sent emails after Warden Adams and Warden Blair were removed. Everyone (TCCF employees, the Tallahatchie County Board, members of corporate HQ) knows that I was wrongfully terminated and now it seems as if I am being blackballed out of my job when Miss Koehn said I WAS ELIGIBLE FOR REHIRE six months ago because my record was GOOD (so it seems that Miss Koehn said I was eligible but apparently there is something else going on because of your letter).
As stated before, I would like a verbal or email response to this because it's obvious that although I am eligible for REHIRE according to Miss Koehn, it's becoming obvious that there is something DEEPER going on here and that's not right. My phone number is 662-303-9365.
Thank you for your time.
The only reason I could see him not giving us our jobs back is to cover up whatever Warden Adams messed up there and feels the only way to fix things up there is to start fresh and not rehire any of the wrongfully terminated employees (which I feel is wrong because the CCA representatives who were at the Tallahatchie County Board of Supervisors meeting, basically lied because they assured us that ALL of OUR NAMES were on the REHIRE LIST and that we would get our jobs back).
(Note: Warden Adams is no longer employed by TCCF. He, along with Asst. Warden Blair were removed for their bad mismanagement practices along with their selective enforcement of company policies (such as my situation. My record is GOOD. I did not have any prior suspensions on my records but was basically terminated with a CLEAN RECORD. C/o d. Leavy (who was hired at the same time as me), however, has a file FULL of PSN‘s and grievances from not only staff but inmates as well but has NOT BEEN TERMINATED, but has received SEVERAL SUSPENSIONS). I invite you to have my file pulled along with D. Leavy and her sister T. Leavy, who was recently terminated (FINALLY) and compare them and you will see why there are a lot of employees up there with low morale because they know their jobs are NOT safe when an employee like myself can be fired but they are/were allowed to continue working despite their BAD records).
While myself and several other officers were fired for petty reasons (despite having CLEAN records) and have not been rehired, there are several employees that are STILL currently working there with SEVERAL write ups from not only staff but inmates as well but have not been terminated (there are also staff members that have been implicated for dealing with inmates (including one for whom we found her number in an inmate’s phone while I was a member of the SORT (Special Operations Response Team) and she has YET to be terminated because of her relationship with Asst. Chief Stewart). To compound things, despite ASSURING everyone in front of the Tallahatchie County Board of Supervisors that the individuals who were wrongfully terminated would be rehired (we were all placed on the REHIRE LIST at the meeting), I received a certified letter from (acting) Warden Phillips saying that I was NOT eligible for rehire (despite receiving word from Cindy Koehn, who works in the Human Resources department at corporate HQ of CCA, stating that I was ELIGIBLE for REHIRE in November only 2 months after I was terminated in August). I feel that there needs to be light shed upon what's going on at TCCF. These things would include:
· Wrongful terminations/inconsistency in enforcement of policies (firing employees with good work records, but allowing other employees to accumulate several PSN’s before suspending them (but not firing them). Why the other individuals who were terminated were not given the same opportunity?)· Employees not having received raises in nearly three years (Mr. Garner and Warden Adams’ names have been implicated for “misplacing” the money that was set aside for those said raises, which is another reason why Mr. Garner never overturned any grievances filed by us because of Warden Adams)
· The facility always operating short of staff (which is putting everyone at risk at the facility. For example, policy states that at least five individuals be in a chow hall of 250 inmates, but sometimes only 2-3 staff members are present to conduct feeding (that’s the reason why the two officers who were stabbed last year at TCCF)
As you can see, there is a lot going on at TCCF that the ADO staff does not want to get out because it would not only make the facility and the company look bad, but the prison could be closed because of the unsafe working conditions that the facility has operated under for extended periods of time. As stated in my letter, the reason why I was fired is because of my reporting of the situation with the SORT team (the contract with CA REQUIRES there be a response team on call 24 hours) and the ADO staff rather fire me and keep the situation under wraps rather than fix the situation. They violated so many policies in my situation such as: · The first grievance I filed concerning the SORT team never going thru the complete process. Company policy REQUIRES that a decision be rendered within 7-10 days of receiving the letter (once the grievance reached the corporate level in July I NEVER received any response (Erika Cotton, the individual who works at the corporate level, received my grievance letter and was to deliver it to Jack Garner, who oversees the grievance process, but I never heard from Miss Cotton or Mr. Garner concerning that grievance) (Note: I was told that the original grievance I filed was not in my folder (not surprising) but I do have a copy of the letter)· No actions being taken on the many 5 1-C statements I wrote concerning issues going on at the facility (not only the SORT team, but various issues occurring at the facility)· My wrongful removal from the SORT team (the SORT Commander nor the Warden can remove an individual from the SORT team... They can only recommend it. I was removed for a frivolous reason and when the PSN that was written explaining my removal from the SORT team was voided, I was basically removed for NO REASON)· Regional SORT Commander Dean basically stated that I should NOT have been terminated in the first place not only because of the SORT team being investigated at the time, but the reason I was terminated was frivolous· Inconsistent procedures used in terminating employees (like I stated above, I was terminated with a CLEAN record. There was NO STEP-BY-STEP process used in my situation (verbal warning, PSN, SUSPENSION then TERMINATION. However, several employees are STILL WORKING at TCCF DESPITE having been suspended SEVERAL TIMES as well as receiving SEVERAL PSN's since those suspensions but HAVE NOT been terminated).· After the investigations of Miss Koehn and Mr. Dean were completed and were found that the SORT team violated MANY policies, a lot revolving around C/O D. Leavy and the OBVIOUS conflict of interest with her father being the Asst. SORT Commander, Miss Leavy was REMOVED from the SORT team in November (because of the NUMEROUS write ups on her record (from staff and inmates), Mr. Dean stated that she should have NEVER been allowed to join the SORT team). However, she was allowed to come back to the SORT team (thus making the investigations null and void because they allowed her to rejoin the team despite the conflict of interest and her checkered work record). As stated before, CA contract REQUIRES that a response team be on call 24 hours. Warden Phillips stated that a facility of that size needs 30 SORT members so he would rather have a SORT team than follow policy).
As previously stated, Mississippi's AT WILL status pretty much has eliminated ANY legal action (not only that, but my unemployment being cut off in Feb. Because of HR manager Davis lying to the administrative law judge concerning my termination) that can be taken against CCA/TCCF so I would like some attention brought to this matter so that's why I am contacting the NAACP to see what your organization can do to assist me in this matter.
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