Fighting back

Corrections officer gets the run-around after April attack



By JUSTIN SCHNEIDER

justin.schneider@heraldbulletin.com

Patricia Fontana did not want to fight. The battle came looking for her.

In April, Fontana, a corrections officer at Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility, was attacked by several inmates and has been unable to work since.

Now, Fontana has chosen to fight. She said officials at PJCF have prevented her from returning to work by refusing to honor the conditions outlined by her doctors. (Officials at PJCF have agreed to comment on Monday.)

“I’m being singled-out here, they’re not making a place for me,” said Fontana, 54. “They’re trying to make me so frustrated that I just quit.”

Fontana finds it strange to walk with a cane. She has studied dance most of her life, pursued physical fitness and even trained as a body builder. Today, she finds short walks demanding.

The attack left Fontana covered in bruises and welts, with a concussion and a damaged nose that still hinders her breathing. It was one of four inmate disturbances within six days this spring and many believe the level of danger at PJCF has become unacceptable.

“I think the key thing is, what is the state’s obligation to these people and how should people at facilities be treated when they have been attacked?” said Charlie Dodson, organizer for the Unity Team UAW/AFT Local 9212, which represents corrections officers. “She was attacked because the state has failed to provide proper staffing. They should have some obligation if they’re going to put people’s health and safety at risk.”

As the daughter of a military mom, Fontana responds to structure. From the beginning, she clashed personalities with her superiors.

“One of the problems I had working at Pendleton was that I like to follow the rules. I was not liked by a lot of people there,” she said. “Some of the sergeants don’t want to make waves. Unfortunately, I’m a wave maker.”

Her strong personality eventually landed Fontana in the facility’s E complex, known for housing high-risk offenders. The inmates in units E-13 and E-14 had all been convicted of violent crimes and drug offenses and often communicated through gang signs. During one shift, Fontana saw the number eight, the sign for death.

The attack occurred on April 5 around 1:45 a.m. She was forced into a cell, where one attacker put Fontana in a choke-hold while another one stuffed a wad of cloth in her mouth.

Her radio and keys were taken from her, she was punched repeatedly and then secured, by her own handcuffs, to a desk. Two inmates tried to remove some of her clothing, before the melee was broken up.

Fontana was prepared for a physical confrontation, but with no officer in the control room there was no one to watch her back.

“I had completed takedowns and stuff before,” Fontana said. “But when you’re ganged-up on by seven boys, there’s not much you can do.”

Fontana named four inmates as her attackers and suspected three more of playing a part. The Indiana Department of Corrections stated that three inmates were involved and the victim suffered only minor injuries.

“The whole unit E-14 and E complex were aware of the attack,” she wrote on the incident report form. “I also believe officers and superiors conspired against me by not taking immediate action to my repeated requests to be moved from that complex.”

Two months after the attack, on June 5, Fontana was evaluated and began therapy. She returned to work on July 3, but the safe work environment she was promised never materialized.

“I went to work on Monday and I was supposed to be working maintenance,” Fontana said. “I ended up in engineering, working outside in 100-degree heat counting nuts and bolts. There are adult inmates in the area. They’re adhering to workman’s comp, not to my needs.”

She filed a merit complaint with the State Employees Appeal Commission for unsafe working conditions, which is still under review.

“It doesn’t sound like anything is being done,” said Unity Team organizer Charlie Dodson. “She was supposed to go back to work under limited conditions and one of them was to stay away from the inmates and they immediately put her back in contact with them. That just won’t work.”