A correctional officer was disciplined after an in-custody death. She says it was retaliation.

Keisha Hudson was one of four officers in the Prince George’s County Department of Corrections who faced disciplinary hearings after an inmate died in March 2025.

Hudson said she and another officer checked on the man during their regular rounds and didn’t notice if he needed medical attention, nor did he ask for it. She said the man died after her shift ended.

The charges — dereliction of duty for failure to provide medical assistance — were filed about four months after the man’s death. And, more significantly from Hudson’s perspective, they came six days after she followed up on a complaint she previously filed accusing her supervisor of creating a hostile work environment and colorism discrimination.

Following administrative disciplinary hearings, Hudson was the only one of four officers found to be culpable of failing to care for the man. She received a 10-day suspension without pay.

Those findings, along with other actions by her supervisor, Tamara Johnson, are the basis for Hudson’s lawsuit against the county alleging discrimination and retaliation. Johnson is one of two officers named as defendants in the lawsuit, which was filed in the Prince George’s County Circuit Court in March. It was moved to the U.S. District Court of Maryland in April.

“I felt that I was singled out,” Hudson said.

Hudson, who lives in Clinton, started working for the Department of Corrections in 2020 and was assigned to the Regional Processing Unit. In early 2025, according to her lawsuit, Johnson began to act hostile toward Hudson.

Hudson recalled one instance when Johnson demanded that she provide her Social Security number for a performance evaluation. Hudson initially declined, stating she was uncomfortable providing the full number and offered to provide the last four digits, as she had in previous years, according to an internal complaint viewed by The Banner.

“She started yelling at me [then] bumped into me with her body very hard,” Hudson wrote in the complaint. “There was clearly enough room for Sgt. Johnson to get by me without making body contact.”

After the bumping incident, Hudson said Johnson frequently belittled her in front of her coworkers, criticizing her for incompetence or scolding her for not moving fast enough.

Some of Hudson’s colleagues suggested she request a transfer to another unit. One sergeant suggested that Johnson’s treatment of her was “because [you’re] light skin,” the lawsuit said.

Both Hudson and Johnson are Black, Hudson said.

“I just didn’t understand it,” Hudson said. “How did it affect my job?”

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects people from employment discrimination based on color and race, but they are not synonymous. Courts have recognized both intraracial and interracial color discrimination claims.

A few days after the sergeant alleged Hudson was targeted because of the color or her skin, she filed a formal complaint accusing Johnson of discrimination and harassment.

She received no response to the complaint until she followed up six weeks later, according to the lawsuit. Then, six days after her follow up, on July 21, 2025, the disciplinary charges were filed against her. Hudson was never informed of any action or investigation taken in response to her complaint, according to her attorney, Jordan Howlette.

Hudson was the only officer found guilty for neglect of duty by an administrative hearing board, according to the lawsuit, which also alleged that the process was corrupted against her.

The lawsuit claims that two of the four board members were friends with Tamara Johnson, including the chair, Avery Johnson, who is another defendant in Hudson’s lawsuit.

One board member told Hudson he was pressured to change his vote on Hudson’s charge from “not guilty” to “guilty,” according to the lawsuit. Another board member allegedly said he was told his vote “didn’t count,” the lawsuit said.

“I was the only one they said was found guilty,” Hudson said. “I was led to believe it was because of the prior complaint that I previously had written, which I thought was very unfair to me.”

Hudson said the hearing was just one part of the retaliation she faced after filing the complaint. Tamara Johnson began issuing Hudson negative performance evaluations, according to the lawsuit. Hudson was also written up for having bright red hair even though the department hadn’t enforced the rule on appearance standards for other officers with dyed hair, colorful nails, visible tattoos or nose piercings, her lawsuit claims.

Hudson is seeking backpay for lost wages and overtime. In addition to the financial award, the lawsuit asks for the adverse administrative finding, the uniform deficiency write-up and the negative performance evaluations to be expunged from Hudson’s personnel file.

In their responses to the lawsuit, Tamara Johnson, Avery Johnson and Prince George’s County either denied Hudson’s allegations or said they didn’t have enough information to respond to them.

The county wrote in its answers to the complaint that it cannot be held responsible for Tamara Johnson and Avery Johnson’s actions. The Department of Corrections declined to comment about the case, which is expected to go to trial at the end of 2027 at the earliest.

Hudson said she plans to continue working at the Department of Corrections, but she wants the county to implement new procedures to ensure that this discrimination and retaliation could not happen again.

“It just needs to be a more neutral, independent process for handling investigations when employee complaints are brought forth,” she said. “My hope is that speaking out will encourage accountability, professionalism, respect, and meaningful change.”