FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CR MONDAY, APRIL 14, 1997 (202) 616-2765 TDD (202) 514-1888 JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REACHES AGREEMENT WITH ARKANSAS CORRECTIONS SYSTEM ENSURING EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department today reached an agreement with the state of Arkansas ensuring that women will receive the same employment opportunities as men in the state's corrections system. Today's agreement, presented to the U.S. District Court in Little Rock, will resolve a Justice Department suit alleging the state's Department of Corrections (ADC) violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by engaging in a pattern of employment discrimination based on gender. Under the agreement, the state will take steps to ensure that female corrections officers assigned to male prisons are given an equal chance to be hired for a job, obtain assignments and seek promotions. The Justice Department has reached similar agreements with other state corrections departments which employed similar practices, including Indiana, Massachusetts, Florida, Delaware, New Jersey, and North Carolina. "A qualified woman should not be denied the opportunity for career advancement just because she happens to be female," said Isabelle Katz Pinzler, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Before the Department's investigation, women corrections officers assigned to male prisons were limited to posts such as guard towers or switchboards. These assignment restrictions severely limited the opportunity of women to gain advancement. Under the agreement the state will: * open all correctional officer positions and assignments at ADC facilities housing male inmates to women on an equal basis with men--with limited exceptions necessary to protect the privacy interests of male inmates; * establish a $7.2 million fund to provide backpay to those women identified as victims of discrimination; and, * provide priority hiring to up to 400 women, and provide priority promotion to up to 42 women, along with retroactive seniority and benefits. Today's agreement, which settles a suit filed in September 1995, must still be approved by the court. ### 97-152