Macomb County jail guard claims retaliation
Tue, Aug 19, 2008
to del.icio.us
MOUNT CLEMENS (AP) A Macomb County Jail guard claims she was left alone with a man who killed and dismembered his wife as retaliation for reporting the use of racial slurs by a fellow guard.
The federal lawsuit on behalf of 37-year-old Sandra Barnes, who is white and married to a black man, was filed Monday in Detroit. The lawsuit claims Barnes complained last year that another guard used a racial slur to describe black inmates. In June 2007, she claimed Stephen Grant was released into her ward without other officers present.
Grant was sentenced in February in his wife's 2007 killing.
Sheriff Mark Hackel, who oversees the jail and is named as a plaintiff, said the county plans to fight the lawsuit. Hackel said it isn't uncommon for one guard to be left with an inmate.