Oct. 31—Four former state Corrections Department investigators recently agreed to settlements totaling $310,000 in exchange for dropping a lawsuit that alleged high-ranking agency officials quashed their findings of employee misconduct and retaliated against them by gutting their division.

The plaintiffs worked in the Office of Professional Standards, which is responsible for investigating staff misconduct, identifying trends, providing training and recommending policy changes to the Corrections Department secretary. It is considered by some an internal affairs department.

According to their whistleblower lawsuit — filed in state District Court in 2021 and settled earlier this month — department officials up to and including Secretary Alisha Tafoya Lucero "wanted to control, and continue to keep secret ... files and investigations which reflected badly upon her, the department and its officials."

When the employees balked at participating in what the lawsuit claims were cover-ups, the department and Tafoya Lucero took resources away from their office "until the unit became so understaffed, underfunded and under resourced and unsupported that it became a mere shell."

A Corrections Department spokeswoman called the allegations in the lawsuit "false."

"These settlements represent a compromise to avoid the expense of litigation and are in no way an admission of liability," Corrections Department spokeswoman Carmelina Hart wrote in an email Friday.

Tafoya Lucero did not respond...

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