Ex-Officer Wins Appeal in Speech Suit Over Flagging Inmate Abuse

A former Oklahoma prison officer saw her free speech retaliation lawsuit over her firing against the prison revived by the Tenth Circuit on Friday.

Stephanie Wright wasn’t acting pursuant to her official duties when she reported officer Matthew Ware’s inmate abuse to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the court said, because her supervisor allegedly told her to stop working on compliance activities a few months before she filed the report.

Wright was serving as the compliance officer for Kay County Detention Center when she met with her supervisor, Don Jones, in October 2017 to discuss allegedly inappropriate behavior of ...