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Washington Guard Terminated For Exposing Prisoners' Crime Details
Ex Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) employee, Glee Winter, appealed her termination for disclosing specific prisoners' crime information to other prisoners and showing prisoners how to access the facility computer system. The termination was upheld.
Winter was employed by the DOC in 1998. She worked at the Ahtanum View Corrections Center (AVCC) where a prisoner filed a grievance in 2003 after his crime was revealed to other prisoners causing him to fear for his safety. A prison informant told his unit manager that Winter had looked up several prisoners' crimes and shown him and another prisoner how to look up prisoners' crimes on the computer in the break room. The informant was given and passed a polygraph examination. Winter had numerous prior corrective reports for similar conduct and was therefore terminated. She appealed, claiming that it was "far too severe for going into a computer screen she should not have been viewing" and denied all allegations.
The Washington State Personnel Appeals Board held that the burden of proof by a preponderance of evidence supported the termination and that prisoners' safety was compromised amounting to a level of "gross misconduct." It was further held that Winter displayed a pattern of disregard for the conduct and rule compliance needed to maintain integrity, safety and security at the AVCC. See: Winter v. Department of Corrections, WA Personnel Appeals Board, Case No. DISM 04 0018 (July 13, 2005).
Winter was employed by the DOC in 1998. She worked at the Ahtanum View Corrections Center (AVCC) where a prisoner filed a grievance in 2003 after his crime was revealed to other prisoners causing him to fear for his safety. A prison informant told his unit manager that Winter had looked up several prisoners' crimes and shown him and another prisoner how to look up prisoners' crimes on the computer in the break room. The informant was given and passed a polygraph examination. Winter had numerous prior corrective reports for similar conduct and was therefore terminated. She appealed, claiming that it was "far too severe for going into a computer screen she should not have been viewing" and denied all allegations.
The Washington State Personnel Appeals Board held that the burden of proof by a preponderance of evidence supported the termination and that prisoners' safety was compromised amounting to a level of "gross misconduct." It was further held that Winter displayed a pattern of disregard for the conduct and rule compliance needed to maintain integrity, safety and security at the AVCC. See: Winter v. Department of Corrections, WA Personnel Appeals Board, Case No. DISM 04 0018 (July 13, 2005).
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Related legal case
Winter v. Department of Corrections
| Year | 2005 |
|---|---|
| Cite | WA Personnel Appeals Board, Case No. DISM 04 0018 (July 13, 2005) |
| Level | Administrative Agency |
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