Black Corrections Officer Alleges He Was Called the N-Word, His Co-workers Tainted His Food After He Revealed Racist Treatment of Inmates In Pennsylvania Jail

By Niko Mann

Jan. 14, 2024 – A former corrections officer at the Beaver County Jail in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against Beaver County on Jan. 8.

Titus Shields claims that he was fired after reporting the treatment of Black inmates and himself by other corrections officers.

According to the lawsuit, Shields moved to the county from California in search of a better life, only to “endure horrific racism” while employed at the Beaver County Jail. The complaint alleges that Shields was called the N-word, and his car was vandalized before he was fired in October 2022.

Shields began working at the jail in February 2022. The lawsuit states that Shields was forced to work in “a hostile environment” after he reported the racial abuse suffered by Black inmates of the jail and that the county “discriminated against him due to his race, complaints of race discrimination, and reports of wrongdoing.”

The former corrections officer said he was given “positive feedback” during his probationary period until he began reporting about the discrimination against Black inmates at the jail. Shields revealed one incident where an officer removed an inmate’s mattress and bedding during freezing weather with cold air blowing into his cell. The inmate was placed in a restraint chair without explanation and forced to sleep on a metal bed frame for approximately eight days.

Another inmate was also strapped to the restraint chair as several officers assaulted him, and after one officer questioned if the abuse was excessive force, Sgt. Decanini said, “What excessive force? It’s part of your job, dude!” the complaint describes. Shields said he was reporting the abuse, and Decanini yelled, “Do it! Do you think anybody really cares? What do you think you are going to change something? You’re not!”

Another inmate whose bedding was taken without cause for an entire month stayed awake all night to avoid the cold, which eventually “caused his legs to swell and start to burst with blood and blisters.”

Shields claims that when he made complaints about the abuse and said he no longer felt safe, Deputy Warden White told Shields to “get over it. It’s not about you.” Shields was also allegedly told by a Sgt. Harris, who is Black, “Yes, it is very racist here” and “You have got to watch your back.” Harris also told Shields, “These people do a lot of dirt and can get away with it. So just keep your head down, and you will be all right.”

Continue reading Aliquippa’s Jail on Trial →