Appeals Court Upholds Black Inmate’s Right to Sue Over Job Bias in Prison

An inmate who contends that he was refused a job in the McNeil Island, Wash., federal prison library because he is black has a right to sue under the Civil Rights Act, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.

A three-judge panel overturned a ruling by a U.S. district court in Washington, which had upheld a federal magistrate in his contention that Leydell Baker had no right to have a counsel appointed because the individual rights of prisoners do not extend to employment discrimination.

Baker said he had applied for the job as library aide but was not chosen--even though he was next in line--because the civilian woman librarian was afraid to work with a black man. An aide receives $30 a month.

Baker, who is represented by Los Angeles attorney Richard J. Stone, obtained a “right-to-sue” letter from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but the magistrate found his claim without merit.

Although the magistrate and the district court found that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was not applicable to prison work assignments, the appellate judges ruled that an employer-employee relationship did exist.