Union Criticizes 3 Firings After Inmate Mix-Up

Woman Was Housed With Men

The labor union that represents D.C. jail employees lashed out yesterday at the District government's decision to fire three corrections officers after a woman was mistakenly housed with male inmates last month.

John Rosser, vice chairman of the Department of Corrections' labor committee, said the officers are being unfairly blamed for a foul-up that began long before Virginia Grace Soto reached the jail.

Soto, 47, was arrested July 14 on drug charges and spent two nights in an area of a detention facility reserved for men before being transferred to the jail July16. At the jail, she underwent a strip search and showered with male inmates before it was determined that she was a woman.

After an internal investigation, Devon Brown, director of the Corrections Department, decided to fire three jail employees, including a supervisor, government sources said last week. His decision was affirmed by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's administration, the sources said.

However, a separate internal report by the D.C. police department found no misconduct by police officers and exonerated all of those involved -- even though it was the police department that initially classified Soto as a man.

"What is unfair is that correction front-line staff is being targeted," Rosser said. "That is disparate treatment."

In a letter to the Fenty administration and the media, Rosser wrote: "Virginia Grace Soto was in the custody, as a man, under the U.S. Marshal's service and the Metropolitan Police Department . . . for a far greater amount of time than the few hours at the D.C. Jail."

The Corrections Department's report determined that Soto came in contact with at least nine jail employees, but those who will be fired have not been identified.

Rosser said that he is aware of two employees who were placed on administration leave during the internal investigation but that he is not aware of any who have been notified that they will be fired. Rosser added that the union has not received a copy of the internal report despite requesting one. The report states that the officers failed to follow mandatory procedures that would have revealed the mistaken identity sooner.

Carrie Brooks, a spokeswoman for Fenty (D), would not comment.

Traci Hughes, a spokeswoman for Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier, said no police officers violated department policy in Soto's arrest and booking. But, she added, "in light of this incident, the department is working on a policy that clearly defines and dictates how our officers should proceed."

In the internal report by the Corrections Department, Soto said she was mocked and called "thing" by the U.S. marshals who took her from the police detention center to D.C. Superior Court and then to the jail.

Nikki Credic, a U.S. Marshals Service spokeswoman, said last week that her agency is investigating its role in the case and would not comment further.