Colo. private prison operators reach $1.3M settlement in sex discrimination lawsuit

Private prison reaches $1.3M settlement with EEOC

DENVER — The operators of a Colorado private prison have agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that male officers forced female workers to perform sex acts to keep their jobs.

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the settlement with the Dominion Correctional Services LLC and Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America on Tuesday.

The companies didn’t admit liability. A spokeswoman didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

The suit, filed by the EEOC in 2006, also alleged that women who worked at the Crowley County Correctional Facility were subjected to comments about their bodies and inappropriate touching. It accused the companies of retaliating against women who complained.

EEOC acting Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru said the agency sees many sexual harassment cases but that the allegations in the complaint against the prison were “shocking.”

“No working woman should ever have to endure harassment and requests for sexual favors by managers in order to earn a paycheck — or suffer retaliation for complaining about the illegal harassment,” Ishimaru said in a statement.