A D.C. Department of Corrections (DOC) employee filed a lawsuit against the city, his supervisors and one of his colleagues on Wednesday, alleging long-standing harassment based on his sexual orientation and a hostile work environment that has inflicted serious emotional harm.

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       Deon Jones, a medical liaison for the jail, has taken legal action against the DOC three times throughout his decades-long tenure at the department, detailing similar allegations of discrimination, sexual harassment and unlawful retaliation, according to a suit filed in D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday. Each case has been settled pretrial, but Jones’s attorneys said they are hopeful this suit will yield more lasting change following recent increased public scrutiny directed at the D.C. jail.

       “This has made me feel less of a person,” said Jones, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of D.C. and the law firm WilmerHale. “Because I am being persecuted for being gay.”

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       D.C. officials did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

       On Nov. 1, the U.S. Marshals Service sent a letter to the DOC detailing mistreatment of detainees and announcing plans to transfer about 400 people facing federal charges to a prison in Lewisburg, Pa. The letter, which described the punitive denial of food and water and unsanitary living conditions at the D.C. facility, sparked outrage among local officials, public defenders and judges alike who have since demanded solutions to what they see as a crisis in their own backyard.

       Last week, the DOC and the Marshals Service signed an agreement saying they will work together to improve conditions at the facility.

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       “This is a broad pattern that really reflects a culture that doesn’t attend to the basic needs of either DOC residents or DOC employees,” Scott Michelman, the legal director of the ACLU of D.C., said of the Wednesday filing.

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       The ACLU of D.C. has two other pending lawsuits against the DOC, one over its transgender housing policy and a second over what they called a “flagrant disregard of basic public health measures” to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

       D.C. enters agreement with Marshals Service to address ‘systemic failures’ in city’s jail

       Jones, a sergeant at the jail who serves as a medical liaison responsible for overseeing detainees who are hospitalized, said in the lawsuit that his fellow officers have called him “anti-gay slurs” and accused him of having sexual intercourse with inmates.

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       The alleged harassment, Jones said in the lawsuit, generated such severe anxiety that he has had more than 15 panic attacks “in direct response to the various incidents involving DOC staff and inmates.” He said he has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder.

       Jones said he has brought complaints about the mistreatment to multiple authorities at the D.C. jail. When the alleged harassment continued, Jones said, he asked DOC Director Quincy Booth and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) for assistance.

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       But instead of help, Jones alleged that his cries went unanswered and his colleagues at the jail retaliated against him. He said fellow officers repeatedly refused to respond to his calls for help over the internal radio system when jail residents threatened him.

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       In the lawsuit, Jones also accused the DOC of failing to provide him accommodations to address his diabetes, which he said puts him at higher risk of covid-19 complications.

       “Working in a correctional facility is stressful enough without the added burden of being targeted for one’s sexual identity,” Steven Cherry, a partner at WilmerHale law firm, said in a statement. “We seek redress for Sgt. Jones but we also hope to send a strong message to D.C. officials that they have a duty to protect all public servants from such abuse.”

       The lawsuit asks for a jury to determine the amount Jones should receive in damages, as well as an injunction prohibiting the DOC from engaging in the conduct outlined in the complaint.