A special prosecutor has stopped retaliation against a whistleblower committed directly under the nose of the Justice Department’s internal watchdog.
The US Office of Special Counsel announced Tuesday morning that in November it spared Bureau of Prison privatization field administrator Linda Thomas from being forced to work in a converted prison cell after she internally raised concerns about BOP operations.
By the middle of last year, Thomas had spoken to the Justice Department Office of Inspector General to alert it about “an alleged abuse of management authority and a gross waste of taxpayer dollars.” Although tasked with protecting whistleblowers, the OIG “referred her case to BOP’s Office of Internal Affairs,” OSC noted.
In September, Thomas’ supervisors told her she would be forced to work in “a converted jail cell” at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, the OSC said.
The fixture was completely bereft of basic office equipment, isolated from coworkers in an area where smart phone use is not permissible. It was also, the OSC remarked, in an area of the facility that “would have required Ms. Thomas to climb staircases surrounded by prison inmates.”
The Bureau of Prisons agreed in November to an OSC appeal to stop the proposed move.
In February, during the special prosecutor’s inquiry into the matter, the bureau moved her to a different DOJ facility that the OSC described as “satisfactory to her.”
“BOP also agreed to include relevant whistleblower topics in its training for new prison wardens,” OSC noted.
In its Tuesday press release, the office also said that the bureau agreed earlier this month to review a potentially punitive order its management issued against a Waseca, Minn.-based bureau drug rehab worker.
Julia Landucci had made accusations of programmatic “mismanagement and employee misconduct,” and claimed to be denied educational reimbursement and stripped of official duties as a result, the OSC noted.
She was also ordered by the Bureau to undergo a “mental health exam,” the special prosecutor noted.
OSC has already managed to secure one victory for Landucci. An order to move her office to a much smaller space adjacent to an allegedly hostile and abusive colleague has been put on hold.
The move from management was first proposed “during OSC’s investigation of her whistleblower retaliation claim,” the federal investigative body noted.
“The BOP’s leadership has cooperated with OSC during OSC’s investigations,” it said.
The OSC describes itself as “an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency,” and derives its authority from four laws on government accountability.
