As a deputy warden at the Kansas City Reentry Center, Leesa Wiseman was often called to testify when corrections officers filed lawsuits against the Missouri Department of Corrections (MDOC).
While testifying at a 2016 deposition, Wiseman learned of evidence that her fellow officers were suffering in a work culture of sexual harassment.
“Male officers made sex-related comments towards female officers and it was also male officers making sex-related comments towards other male officers,” said Kansas City-based Attorney Eric Playter who is representing Wiseman. “These officers were bringing lawsuits and Lisa was being subpoenaed. The problem is she was always telling the truth and the MDOC was doing everything it could to keep things in-house.”
Wiseman experienced retaliation that escalated each time she was subpoenaed.
“She had no discipline relating to her supposed failures as a supervisor until she started testifying and that was when they started messing with her because Leesa wasn't going to lie for anybody,” Playter told the St. Louis Record.
After a 10-year career, Wiseman was terminated in 2019. At which point, she filed her own lawsuit against the MDOC. A Jackson County jury awarded her $11 million of which $9.5 million is for punitive damages.
“The outcome represents an acknowledgment of what Ms. Wiseman went through and shouldn't have had to go through so we're happy that the jury heard her, saw her, and recognized the reprehensibility of what the MDOC did and continues to do,” Playter said.
Wiseman’s lawsuit is among a series that have been filed by corrections officers against the MDOC in recent years.
“There have been four or five verdicts against the MDOC since 2014, and they, of course, have settled a number of cases,” Playter said. “We’d like to see them make changes that are meaningful but people at the top continue to keep their positions. From our perspective, that is what our case was about is that changes need to be made and they're just not being made.”
The current director of the Missouri DOC, Anne Precythe, was appointed by Eric Greitens when he was governor.
“We’ve ended up in this situation where there is serial litigation against the MDOC because the people who have the power to make changes don't get removed because they are the ones in power and so they remain, but then the people on the ground, the corrections officers, in these facilities continue to suffer in a culture of discrimination and harassment,” Playter added.
Until changes are made at the top, Playter expects Missouri residents to continue footing the bill since jury awards and settlements are paid by the state with taxpayer funds.
“Somebody needs to be doing an evaluation on how bad the conduct is, how many people have been affected by the conduct, how many lawsuits are out there, and what we need to do as a fiduciary to the taxpayers of this state to resolve it,” he said.