A grabbed phone, a denied assault, and a lifetime ban he says was payback for speaking up
A Black former officer says Michigan's prison agency punished him, then barred him from state jobs, after he complained of race bias.
That is the heart of a lawsuit filed July 10, 2026 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against the Michigan Department of Corrections and several officials. The case turns on a comparison - one incident, two employees, and outcomes the worker says split along racial lines.
The worker, a Black man, joined MDOC as a corrections officer at a state reception and guidance center in October 2022, according to the complaint. The trouble started on June 24, 2024, in a medical unit, when a prisoner refused psychiatric medication. He says he stepped in to keep order and follow procedure.
Later that evening, the filing says, a white nurse "took or grabbed the telephone" from his hand as he tried to reach the control center. The officer "denies pushing, striking, body-checking, cornering, or otherwise making unauthorized physical contact," the complaint states. He was still accused of assaultive conduct.
The evidence, as the filing describes it, did not line up neatly. Available video did not show contact, the complaint says. Several responding officers did not witness any. A second nurse he was accused of cornering said he never touched her. Yet the department, he alleges, treated his denied contact as serious misconduct while, the...
Welcome to Reality Check, NewsGuard’s nonpartisan newsletter that tracks the false claims and conspiracy theories that shape our world — and who’s behind them. Please support us by becoming a premi...