The state of Michigan has agreed to pay about $750,000 and make other changes to settle a lawsuit on behalf of female guards who say their rights have been violated by mandatory overtime and other restrictions at the state’s only prison for women.
Corrections Department spokesman Chris Gautz says the state will lift a freeze on women officers transferring to other prisons. He tells the Detroit Free Press that the state also will examine whether more jobs can be opened to male guards.
The deal would settle a lawsuit by the U.S. Justice Department, which has argued that Michigan can’t lock workers in or out of a job because of their sex. The prison in Washtenaw County has many female guards because male guards years ago sexually assaulted prisoners.
Hundreds of female guards would share about $750,000.