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Another woman alleges gender discrimination under prisons head Louis Giorla
Another African-American woman in the Prisons System alleges that she, too, has been a victim of gender discrimination under Giorla.
Another woman alleges gender discrimination under prisons head Louis Giorla
Last week, City Paper published a story about Harriett Spencer, an African-American woman and a Philadelphia Prisons System employee who claims that she has been a victim of gender discrimination under Commissioner Louis Giorla.
Now, CP has found, another African-American woman in the Prisons System alleges that she, too, has been a victim of gender discrimination under Giorla.
Her name is Joyce Brown Adams, and her claims are remarkably similar to Spencer's. In 2009, the Prisons System was on the hunt for a new deputy commissioner, the second-highest ranking official in that department, and Adams thought she was the woman for the job: She has a bachelor's and a master's degree, she says, and had nearly 30 years of experience in the city's prisons, moving from social worker to employment counselor to her current job as warden.
But Adams, who spoke through her lawyer Nancy Ezold, didn't get the job. Instead, a man named Clyde Gainey did — who, according to Adams, does not have a degree. (A Prisons System spokeswoman and Gainey declined to confirm or deny this.) Adams sees this as the city flouting its own rules: According to the Prisons System's documents, the "minimum acceptable training and experience" for a deputy commissioner is a graduate degree in a relevant field, or a bachelor's degree accompanied by workplace experience.
Adams says the city also didn't formally announce the opening of the deputy commissioner position, even though she expressed interest to Giorla.
So in 2009, Adams filed a charge with both the Pa. Human Relations Commission and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (By state law, you must do this before filing suit.) Adams and the Prisons System are still in negotiations, but Ezold says it is possible she will file a lawsuit soon.
Prison spokeswoman Shawn Hawes declined to comment for this article.
Spencer, the Prisons exmployee who City Paper wrote about last week, filed suit against the city in February for gender discrimination — and she also alleges that she was never able to apply for the deputy commissioner position. And she claims that Gainey doesn't have a degree — whereas she has a bachelor's, master's and law degree, as well as more than 30 years of experience in the Prisons System.
"It's amazing to me that these highly qualified women that are also highly experienced are not getting the position, and are not even getting considered," says Ezold. "It makes no sense."
Ezold also notes that, until a few weeks ago, Adams was a warden at the Philadelphia Detention Center — but then, "without asking her opinion," was reassigned to Riverside Correctional Facility, an all-women's jail. Though this was not a demotion and wasn't accompanied by a pay cut, Ezold argues that it could be construed as retribution for her charge.
In a press release last month, the Prisons System announced that two other women were being promoted to the position of warden, and that Adams, "who has led the Detention Center for the past two years, will take over at the women's jail." In the release, Girola says, "We were fortunate to promote these experienced and talented women to warden."
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