A female correctional officer in Canada has won an employment tribunal case after she suffered a mental health injury while being assigned to monitor a trans-identified male inmate who had been transferred to a women’s prison.
According to a court ruling filed on October 3, the female correctional officer will be entitled to workers compensation benefits after being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) she had acquired while being forced to monitor a trans-identified male inmate for 12 hours without relief despite her increasing anxiety.
The plaintiff, a 55-year-old woman who had been working in corrections for 11 years, had been assigned to monitor the inmate after he had been placed on suicide watch in December of 2019. The officer immediately made her employer aware that she had mental health concerns due to childhood sexual trauma, making the task difficult for her.
According to the court records, she was made to sit in a small, dark office by herself and record what was happening in the cell every 15 minutes, including when the inmate went to the bathroom and masturbated.
While the identity of the prisoner is unknown, the court documents state he had been incarcerated in a men’s institution for “years” prior to claiming to be transgender and receiving a transfer to a women’s prison.
Throughout her shift, the officer became increasingly anxious, and ultimately divulged that she had survived child sexual abuse to her supervisor. But her boss threatened her with disciplinary action or termination if she did not complete the task assigned to her.
When will the madness end…I feel so sorry for this guard that she had to endure that and now has PTSD marring her life. I hope her boss has been made answerable also. Men do not ever belong in Womens’ prisons.