A former staff member at Jefferson City Correctional Center has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Corrections in Cole County Circuit Court, alleging she was the target of harassment due to her national origin.
Sana MacClugage, 32, of Belle, was employed at JCCC as a corrections officer from November 2014 to June 2019.
She was born in Pakistan and moved to the United States in 2004. She became a U.S. citizen in 2013.
MacClugage claims she was frequently called a “terrorist” by coworkers during her time at JCCC and was sometimes asked if she was “a suicide bomber.”
MacClugage alleges her supervisor retaliated after she complained about discrimination against her, including assigning her to “inappropriate tasks” such as collecting prisoners’ laundry, which normally is done by other prisoners.
In her lawsuit, MacClugage claims other corrections officers provided information about MacClugage’s complaints to one prisoner for the purpose of becoming aggressive against her and possibly attacking her.
MacClugage is asking the court to grant her request for a jury trial and that she be awarded damages for the distress and degradation she suffered.
Cole County Presiding Judge Pat Joyce has been assigned the case, but no initial court date has been set.