A D.C. Corrections Officer is suing the Department of Corrections, alleging that he has endured “pervasive acts of harassment based on his sexual orientation” during his two-decade career working at the D.C. Jail.

Sgt. Deon Jones, who identifies as a gay man, says he has been repeatedly called demeaning slurs and falsely accused of inappropriate sexual behavior from both colleagues and people incarcerated at the jail. The lawsuit alleges that DOC leadership enabled a toxic workplace environment and failed to respond to his numerous complaints.

“It’s been … hell, pretty much … and the behavior just continues because they know that they can, and management has their back,” says Jones. “It tears through my soul, all the hurt and abuse I had to endure.”

His lawsuit comes amid a spotlight on conditions at the D.C. Jail after a scathing U.S. Marshals Service memo that said there were “systemic failures” in how the jail was being run. Following an inspection,  the marshals service has transferred more than 100 people to a federal prison in Pennsylvania.

Jones says he was glad to see the report. “It’s just a terrible, terrible environment,” he says. “Not only did they let the residents suffer, but they also let us suffer as well.”

According to the lawsuit, anti-gay harassment led him to be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder. Jones is asking for damages to be determined by a jury, along with an injunction that would bar the corrections department from continuing its practices.

Spokespeople from the DOC and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

Jones became a corrections officer 24 years ago because he wanted to join a “great organization” that stood together.

The harassment worsened as his years on the job went on, he says. Jones filed a lawsuit against DOC for sexual harassment and retaliation in 2000, and he and another gay officer filed two separate lawsuits in 2006 and 2014 alleging discrimination and retaliation by DOC. All three were settled before trial.

But his current lawsuit alleges the hostile work environment continued and “has only grown more severe.”

The suit says that employees and supervisors have called Jones gay slurs, and on “numerous occasions,” people incarcerated at the jail threatened to rape him after learning he was gay. The suit alleges that DOC failed to address the behavior — and in some cases, supervisors condoned it.

In August or September of 2019, one corrections officer called Jones a “faggot” and threatened to have her husband “f*** him up,” according to the suit. Though the corrections officer was investigated and removed from his unit, the suit alleges that she was not disciplined for the use of gay slurs. After that incident, Jones says, multiple other officers continued to make hostile and derogatory comments about his sexuality.

In March of 2021, Jones sent six emails to then-warden Lennard Johnson “pleading to be transferred” because of the anti-gay slurs and threats, but wasn’t, according to his account in the suit. Around that time, the lawsuit alleges, employees at DOC began to whisper gay slurs to him over the staff’s internal radio system.

“You shouldn’t come to come to work and be called a fag,” says Jones. “You shouldn’t come to work to be called a sissy … everyone has that radio. They can hear it and don’t say anything.”

Jones says the environment also includes sexual harassment toward women. In 2013, several women who worked for DOC sued the agency over sexual harassment and retaliation.

“It’s the old boys club,” says Jones, who served as a witness in that lawsuit. “They don’t believe women should really be in corrections or in law enforcement. They don’t believe gays should be in there — or anybody that’s different than what they are.”

The lawsuit also alleges that people incarcerated at the jail repeatedly threatened and harassed Jones but were not disciplined for it.

The suit describes an incident in May of 2021 in which he was nearly assaulted in an elevator: “The inmate threatened to sexually assault Sgt. Jones and ‘cut his throat’ and lunged over the gate towards him.”

“No one had my back,” says Jones. “Supervisors don’t respond to your cries … I almost got assaulted, an inmate inmate threatened to to rape me and cut my throat and so on, and no one showed up.”

Jones alleges that DOC leadership ignored his requests for accommodations for PTSD and major depressive disorder.

The conditions at the jail, the suit says, caused Jones to have at least 15 panic attacks while he was at work this year and take more than 400 hours of sick and annual leave.

Jones says the harassment he faced at work got so bad that “sometimes I wished I wouldn’t even came out the closet, I have been so abused so bad.”

The lawsuit alleges that Jones has been was passed over for promotions, both because of his sexual orientation and also his history of filing discrimination complaints.

Eventually, Jones was transferred to a position outside of the jail. He now works as a medical liaison for the Department of Corrections who works in D.C. hospitals where incarcerated people are being treated. But the suit says he continues to experience emotional trauma.

“I suffered a lot,” Jones says, tearing up over the phone. “I’m tired.”

But, he adds, “if you’re gay, be proud that you’re gay … and stand up for your rights.”