By Brendan J. Lyons,
Albany Times Union
ALBANY — Multiple correction officers are facing accusations of sexually harassing a female co-worker at the Clinton County jail, including a 45-year-old correction officer who has previously been accused of similar misconduct in lawsuits that were settled by the county.
That officer, Travis Dunham, was placed on administrative leave recently by the county’s personnel director, according to two sources familiar with the matter. They said he was placed on leave after the female correction officer went to the personnel department for help after her initial complaint was allegedly not acted upon by Sheriff David Favro. In addition to Dunham, the 25-year-old female correction officer had also faced alleged inappropriate behavior by a sergeant and three other officers, the two sources said.
The sheriff and the county’s personnel director, Kimberly Kinblom, did not respond to requests for comment. Dunham and the correction officer who filed the complaint could not be reached for comment.
The new allegations have surfaced less than two months after the state attorney general’s office announced it had reached a settlement with the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office that called for the department to improve working conditions at the county jail. The agreement followed a more than two-year investigation into allegations that female correction officers and inmates were subjected to systemic sexual harassment, retaliation and gender-based discrimination.
Last year, the Times Union reported that Clinton County and its insurance carrier also paid more than $362,000 to settle federal lawsuits that had been filed by the four former female correction officers who said they had been subjected to sexual harassment and abuse by male co-workers.
The county paid $50,000 — its deductible under the policy — in the settlements reached with Makayla Suddard, Johannah Sorrell, Mandi Devins, and Regina Moore. The civil complaints that were filed in those cases by Suddard, Sorrell and Devins had all alleged sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct by Dunham, as well as numerous other correction officers.
The Times Union also first reported on the attorney general’s investigation last year, which unfolded as the allegations listed in the civil rights lawsuits on behalf of the four female correction officers — and unnamed inmates — who had alleged they were subjected to years of sexual and workplace abuse.
