It took former federal prison guard Fred Chambliss a number of years before he felt comfortable wearing the label whistleblower while working at the Federal Correctional Institute (FCI) in Yazoo City. But after a few years of enduring both a taste of the rewards and some fairly heavy doses of the punishment that come with the new identity, he has learned to embrace the title of “federal whistleblower” as a matter of pride and a badge of honor, openly wearing his gold-tinted whistle around his neck.
Chambliss began work at the Federal Correctional Institute (FCI) in Yazoo City in April 2012 at age 29, and after a year he began asking why he was not being paid for the many overtime hours he and some of the more senior guards were putting in. And he soon became vice president of Local 1013 of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the correctional officers’ union.
Promises of pay adjustment were made by the directors of the prison, but after nearly another year of waiting, the overtime money in question still wasn’t showing up in the employees’ direct deposit bank accounts.
Chambliss sent a string of emails to the honchos who had the responsibility for making the pay adjustments and almost immediately experienced the swift hand of injustice in retaliation.
“I got suspended by the warden for three days for sending those emails out,” Chambliss said. “But the Union picked up my case and agreed that I was in the right. We filed a lawsuit, and I won. As a result, several people got thousands of dollars behind me speaking up.”
That was in 2016-2017. By the end of 2021, Chambliss was sent home on paid administrative leave for two years. And he remained outside the system until the warden terminated him in 2023.
WHISTLEBLOWER PROMISE
Based on the law first enacted in 1989 as the Whistleblower Protection Act and supplemented by the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, and additional legislation such as the SEC whistleblower program, two fundamental protections were guaranteed federal and corporate employees taking the initiative in exposing waste, fraud, and theft.
The two guarantees are: 1) Protection from retaliation; and 2) Protection from harassment and intimidation. And the whistleblower also has the right to reinstatement and back pay if terminated or suspended.
In addition, substantial financial incentives and awards are provided to motivate individuals to come forward. These monetary motivations are designed to encourage whistleblowers to report potential violations, despite the risks and challenges associated with doing so.
“The prospect of substantial financial rewards has clearly contributed to the program’s success, with many whistleblowers driven by the potential for significant financial gain,” one of the earliest reports explained.
RECENT PROTEST
Most recently, Chambliss brought his case to the gates of the governor’s mansion at an August 23 press conference, where he engaged with a small segment of the Jackson-area press corp.
Again, Chambliss stated that he had joined the league of such formidable press stalwarts as the New York Times, Mother Jones Magazine, and the Nation Magazine in offering documented support for charges of crimes and deception within the federal prison system. In recent years, the press corps in Mississippi has been preoccupied with the scandals inhumane conditions of Mississippi prisons while under-reporting similar conditions inside the federal system.
Detailed letters of complaint on his behalf were sent to Colette Peters, the new Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), and to Department of Justice (DOJ) Assistant Director Kristen Clarke, head of the Civil Rights Division, never received responses, Chambliss said.
“I’ve been systematically ignored,” he emphasized. “They treat me like I’ve got a disease or something. They’re supposed to protect me under the whistleblower law, but that law doesn’t mean anything because they ignore it and circumvent it at nearly every turn.
He reports that Second District Congressman Bennie Thompson, the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, recommended that Chambliss take his case to Third District Representative Michael Guest, in Chambliss home district in Rankin County. Thompson’s Second District, nevertheless, includes the area that holds the Yazoo Federal Prison.
“Guest waited until two months after my termination before responding to my appeals,” Chambliss said. “Guest’s Communications Director Brady Stewart said they never got a response from Director Peters or Kristen Clark, So, since he didn’t get a response, there was nothing else he could do. I asked Brady if he was serious in telling me that because a federal official opts not to respond to a congressman’s letter of inquiry, there was nothing the congressman could do.
“I could understand their ignoring me, but to ignore a sitting congressman who is supposed to be fighting for me and the people in the 3rd District – the man Bennie Thompson told me to go and see – didn’t make any sense. Yes, I went to Congressman Guest and he and his staff failed to do their job.”
FEDERAL CORRUPTION
The Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) revealed in its 2023 Semiannual report that the OIG received nearly 4,000 complaints of “official misconduct, force, abuse, rights violations” made against BOP employees over two-years, the Jackson Advocate reported in its September 7, 2023, edition.
At least two wardens and two prison chaplains in the federal system were found guilty of rape of female prisoners, and an associate warden was charged with murder, AP reported. And over the same period, more than 100 federal prison workers were arrested, convicted, or sentenced for crimes. The guilty ranged across the entire spectrum of prison employees from wardens, their assistants, medical staff, and correctional officers. BOP employees were found guilty of taking cash to smuggle in drugs and weapons, and supervisors were caught stealing property such as tires and tractors.
Four employees, including the former warden at the Dublin Women’s facility in California, each face up to 15 years in prison on rape and sexual battery charges against female inmates. This series of reports spurred the resignation of former BOP Director Michael Carvajal, who had been appointed by Donald Trump’s Attorney General Bill Barr in February 2020. Carvajal’s tenure consistently was identified with staff shortages, increased inmate deaths, escapes, and a shocking number of arrests and firings of BOP personnel.
RELENTLESS BATTLE
Chambliss sent a letter to FCI Yazoo warden Dannon Colbert on Sept. 7, 2023, reminding him that if he terminated him for blowing the whistle on conditions at the Yazoo facility, he’d be violating the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989.
“He still terminated me, and he told the investigators that I never gave a written reply to him,” said Chambliss.
Chambliss presented a copy of his letter that also had on it the date Sept. 8, 2023, and the stamp of “USP Warden’s Office” on both pages acknowledging receipt of the letter. The warden told investigators, however, that Chambliss had only given an oral reply.
“I am advising you that terminating me would violate the Whistleblower Protection Act,” Chambliss wrote in his letter. “Between you lying to the EEO counselor on my case, falsifying documentation on my reasonable accommodation denial letter, and having me escorted off the grounds by Yazoo County Sheriffs on July 5, which was a clear violation of the rule under the FLRA (Federal Labor Relations Reform Act) law, I now want to report you. Your continuous failing leadership as FCI Yazoo City Complex Warden must be stopped.”
Chambliss claims in his letter that he was supposed “to be returned to work after June 1, 2023.”
HYDE-SMITH INQUIRY
Chambliss received information from Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith on Jan. 23, 2024, after seeking her assistance in four EEOC complaints he had filed against the Yazoo FCI administration. An EEOC administrative judge found no basis for discrimination on the first of the four claims, Hyde-Smith’s letter stated. The other three claims, the EEOC said, were still under investigation and if there is a finding of discrimination, “the presiding EEOC judge will determine the required remedial relief.”
Currently working for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) under the Department of Homeland Security, since June 16, Chambliss reports that he will be in Las Vegas until Sat., September 7, while attending a two-week course for phase II of his TSA training. He expects to graduate next week on time and is looking forward to his permanent assignment at Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport
BOP INTEGRITY
Chambliss presented members of the press with copies of his August 21 letter to Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director Peters and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, challenging both individual administrators and their respective bureaucracies to fulfill the duties of their offices.
Chambliss said that he is “prepared to provide additional documentation and testimony to support this complaint and assist in any investigation that may follow.” The integrity of the Bureau of Prisons was at issue and the protection of federal employees seeking to expose wrongdoing needed reassuring. The issues raised are critical for retaining public confidence in the prison governing bureaucracy, he said.
The legal precedents are described in the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and other federal court rulings that emphasize the importance of holding federal officials accountable for their actions, he said.
“The failure to take appropriate action in response to serious allegations of misconduct, as seen in Director Peters’ case, not only undermines the integrity of the Bureau of Prisons but also sets a dangerous precedent for other federal agencies,” Chambliss wrote.
“By neglecting her duty to address whistleblower reports and failing to adhere to the established legal and ethical standards,” he contends, “Director Peters has compromised the effectiveness and credibility of the BOP. Her willful negligence, failure to respond to whistleblower reports, and potential violations of federal law have contributed to a pervasive culture of corruption, retaliation, and inefficiency within the BOP. These actions are not only unethical but also illegal, and they demand immediate attention and corrective action.”
CALL FOR ACTION
Chambliss alleges the actions taken against him are clear violations of the Whistleblower Protection Act, which explicitly prohibits federal employees from retaliation when they report violations of law, gross mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or substantial and specific dangers to public health or safety. The actions taken against Chambliss are clear violations of this Act, the letter to the two federal officials explains. The BOP’s failure to investigate or respond to his claims has allowed a culture of retaliation to thrive unchecked within FCC Yazoo City.
“Similarly, the No Fear Act of 2002 requires federal agencies to be accountable for violations of anti-discrimination and whistleblower protection laws,” he said. “I request that the Civil Rights Division take steps to fully protect the rights of whistleblowers within the BOP and address any retaliatory actions against them. This includes reviewing and reforming the current procedures for handling whistleblower reports to ensure that such reports are properly acknowledged, investigated, and acted upon.”
As late as Tuesday evening, neither Chambliss nor his attorneys had received a response from Peters in the BOP or Clarke from the DOJ.
