Suit says jail put addicted guard on job

A former correction officer has alleged in a federal civil rights suit against Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral that an injured officer who admitted being addicted to OxyContin was forced back to work prematurely.

John Scaduto alleges in his suit that Cabral retaliated against him after he told her staff in October 2005 that they were "lucky no one died here" from drug overdoses after the officer, who had told officials he was addicted, smuggled OxyContin and other contraband into the Suffolk County House of Correction.

Scaduto says he was demoted from captain to lieutenant and barred from working details in retaliation for his criticism involving the other officer, and because he had campaigned for Cabral's opponent in the 2004 sheriff's race, Boston city councilor Stephen J. Murphy. Scaduto said he eventually quit his job because of the way he was treated.

The suit, filed Monday in US District Court in Boston, alleges that both Cabral and Suffolk County acted with "malice or with reckless indifference" to his First Amendment right to free speech; violated state law that protects whistle-blowers; and retaliated against him for revealing a risk to public safety. He is seeking back pay, future pay, attorney's fees, and damages for emotional distress.

Yesterday, Steve Tompkins, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Department, declined to talk about Scaduto's allegations, saying, "We don't comment on pending litigation."

Neither Scaduto, 49, of Wilmington, nor his lawyer could be reached for comment yesterday.

Cabral is currently appealing last year's verdict by a federal jury that found she acted with "callous and reckless disregard" for a nurse practitioner's rights by barring her from the House of Correction in 2003 for talking with the FBI about an inmate's allegation of abuse.

Jurors awarded the nurse practitioner, Sheila Porter, $360,000 in compensatory damages to cover lost wages, and also ordered Cabral to pay $250,000 in punitive damages. In February, US District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock ordered the Sheriff's Department to pay an additional $275,437 to cover Porter's attorney's fees.

Scaduto, who oversaw a detention center at the Suffolk County House of Correction where immigrants subject to federal deportation orders were being held, said in his suit that he was called in to work during Labor Day weekend 2005 to question a detainee who admitted being under the influence of OxyContin.

Scaduto said the detainee said that his mother and girlfriends had paid "substantial sums of money" to a correction officer who smuggled him OxyContin and other contraband, according to the suit.

Scaduto said he followed department regulations while handling the case and reported the allegations against the officer, who was later charged as a result. The officer is not identified in the suit.

After he submitted his report, Scaduto said, the deputy superintendent at the time , Viktor Theiss, summoned him to a meeting and criticized his handling of the investigation. Scaduto said he was criticized for reading the detainee his rights before questioning him. He says the Sheriff's Department had been paging Theiss over Labor Day weekend to alert him to the matter, but that Theiss never responded .

Scaduto accused Theiss and others of forcing the other correction officer to return to work, even though the officer had told Suffolk County officials he was addicted to painkillers.