Jul 29, 2010 By Jennifer Harr 3 min read

An arbitrator denied a grievance filed by a corrections officer who lost his job after an inmate at the Fayette County Prison committed suicide last year. Barry Simon, through his union representative, had argued that there was lax training for corrections officers, and that he falsified a document saying he checked on inmate Cade Stevens because he was under stress. Stevens, of Dawson, was in prison after he was arrested for robbery.

The denial was issued July 23, but the report was made available following Wednesday’s meeting of the Fayette County Prison Board.

Attorney Robert A. Creo, the arbitrator, found that falsifying a log to say he had checked on Stevens three minutes before the 25-year-old hung himself in a cell was cause for termination.

Falsifying the record “can only be interpreted as a way to protect himself,” Creo wrote.

“The fact that it was a stupid decision made under stress does not give grievant a pass to get his job back,” the decision stated.

Creo noted that Stevens’ cell was monitored by a video camera, and it was apparent that Simon did not make a round at 9:38 a.m.

Videotape shows Stevens trying to hang himself twice. A third time, he hangs himself at 9:41 a.m. on Sept. 12, 2009. At 9:44 a.m., he stops moving. Another guard found Stevens at 10:05 a.m.

When Stevens’ body was found, Simon testified he came into contact with bodily fluids and found that “very distressing” because he was aware Stevens had diseases that could have been transmitted that way, according to the decision.

Simon told the arbitrator that a “more experienced” officer told him to put his last round closer in time than the 9 a.m. round listed, so he falsified the entry log to list his last round as 9:38 a.m.

“(Simon) testified that he was under stress and that he regretted making a false report.”

Creo noted that Simon was not bound to stay in the communications room where he would have been able to see the monitor showing Cade’s cell. The arbitrator also noted that Stevens was on a drug withdrawal protocol, and not a suicide watch.

A nurse who knew Cade and his family put him on that protocol. That nurse was deemed negligent by a coroner’s jury who found she should have someone else make the determination because she knew Cade’s family.

The nurse later resigned her job.

At almost the exact time of Stevens’ actual suicide, Simon was relieved by another guard, Creo found. Although the decision does not name the guard, prison board officials have identified him as Geary O’Neill.

“The video shows this (other guard) setting up his chair and ultimately propping himself up so his feet rested above the ground. The camera angle was from the rear and his head does not move for many minutes, so it appears that he is sleeping,” the decision read.

O’Neill also was fired, but according to the arbitration report, did not file a grievance.

Michael Hicks, president of the local union, testified during the arbitration that training given to officers is often inadequate.

The report indicated that Simon never had any disciplinary actions while a corrections officer, and served as a team leader and trainer to other employees.

Simon filed the grievance on Dec. 1, 2009, a few weeks after the prison board voted to fire him on Nov. 18.

At a coroner’s inquest in April, jurors recommended the prison implement full-time surveillance monitoring, an annual performance review of all staff and a 48-hour watch for all arriving inmates.