ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, September 18, 1996 TAG: 9609180102
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA LAFAY STAFF WRITER
A member of the General Assembly's Legislative Black Caucus said Tuesday he wants the caucus to investigate allegations that the Department of Corrections has demoted and transferred some of its officials because of race.
Eight black officials have been "unfairly" demoted or passed over for jobs in the administration of DOC Director Ron Angelone, according to Del. Lionell Spruill, D-Portsmouth.
Spruill released the list of names, which he said DOC employees gave him. The workers came to his home and asked him to publicize the matter, he said, because the DOC forbids employees to speak to the news media without permission from Angelone.
"Something is wrong with the system, and we need to get to the bottom of it," Spruill said. ``I want to know what the Department of Corrections is hiding, and I want to know why."
Some of the officials on the list were threatened and transferred after complaining about a faulty sewage treatment plant that dumped effluent from the St. Brides Correctional Center in Chesapeake into Indian Creek, Spruill charged. He said several of the DOC employees named have filed grievances with the corrections department.
DOC spokesman David Botkins dismissed Spruill's allegations as "anonymous complaints by disgruntled employees" that "don't dignify a response."
"DOC doesn't take race into account when hiring, firing, demoting or transferring. Merit, or the lack thereof, is the litmus test - and everything is looked at on a case-by-case basis," he said in a written statement.
More than 33 percent of DOC's "leadership in institutions" is black, Botkins said.
Del. Jerrauld Jones, D-Norfolk, leader of the Legislative Black Caucus, called Spruill's allegations "a matter of grave concern'' and added: ``I plan to take the matter up with the [caucus] members shortly."
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