In a ruling that paves the way for unconditional reinstatement of fired state prison correctional officers, the state's highest court ruled this week that the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services took too long to investigate and discipline three guards.
"It's a question of what is fundamentally fair," said Joel A. Smith, a partner in the law firm that represented two of the officers. "The law characteristically adopts time limitations. This is one of them."
Two of the three officers were fired - one had used a racial epithet, the other had reported a set of master keys missing on his watch. The third officer was reprimanded for instigating an investigation of a co-worker that was deemed unwarranted.