HANCOCK COUNTY, Ind. — Editor's Note: This story contains graphic and offensive language.
A federal lawsuit was filed Friday against the Hancock County Board of Commissioners and three Hancock County community corrections workers.
The suit was filed after a man serving home detention in Hancock County claimed he was the victim of racial discrimination.
Ja'Michael Bryant's attorneys filed the federal civil rights action Friday, but they say the issues started months earlier with the Hancock County Community Correction staff soon after Bryant was sentenced to home detention in November 2022.
Court records say Bryant lives with his mother, and when they moved, they'd notified community corrections weeks ahead of time, only to be told on the day of the move by his officer Daniel Devoy that he "is the mother f**ker on home detention" and denied him permission to move.
"The court documents say Bryant's mother heard the language and contacted community corrections. Eventually, he was able to move to Indianapolis.
Months later, when Bryant's home detention bracelet broke, court records say Devoy accused Bryant of intentionally damaging the device, despite determining later it was defective.
Court records say "as an apparent punishment for the defective device," Devoy didn't let Bryant to go to work for three days following. Those lost wages meant Bryant missed payments, and community corrections filed a violation against Bryant.
One month later, another corrections officer, Thomas Smith, called Bryant's phone but he didn't pick up.
Court records show a voicemail did record on Bryant's phone, picking up Smith, Devoy and another community corrections worker, Nicole Raffaelli, allegedly talking about him.
His attorneys provided 13News a recording of that voicemail.
Part of the transcript reads as follows:
Male 2: Wait until you see his house.
N.R.: Is it…
MALE 1: …it looks…it looks nice; look at this neighborhood, look at this neighborhood.
MALE 2: Remember, Nicole, when we moved him out of the hood?
MALE 1: Let me see here.
MALE 2: When we moved him out of the hood.
N.R.: Oh, yeah.
MALE 1: Look at that f**king house.
N.R.: That's too nice for him…
MALE 1: And he's got water in the back yard…f**k this motherf**ker's black a**.
Court records show the 3-minute voicemail details Smith, Raffaelli and Devoy mocking Bryant, even calling him lazy and saying this made them mad, and they wanted to go get him.
After discovering the voicemail, court records say lawyers agreed to let Bryant complete his home detention in Marion County.
Bryant's attorneys say when this issue was brought to Hancock County, they didn't fire or even punish the employees.
In the lawsuit, Bryant's attorneys say these workers and the county board of commissioners have allowed a deep-rooted culture of racism to continue, and that by failing to remove them or discipline them for their actions, "Hancock County has expressly condoned their racist behavior."
Bryant's attorneys are calling for a jury trial. They're asking for attorney fees and litigation costs to be paid, as well as compensatory and punitive damages in an amount that will deter others from engaging in this kind of conduct again.
After the lawsuit was filed, Bryant's attorney Terrance Kinnard sent 13News the following statement:
"It was hurtful and heartbreaking to see Hancock County adopt discrimination as a policy. This was apparent when no action was taken against the people who acted so reprehensible and displayed racist ideology which was unchecked until local media shined a light."
13News reached out to the Hancock County Board of Commissioners about the lawsuit. Commissioner Bill Spaulding (Dist. 3) shared the following response:
"Hancock County Board of Commissioners will not be commenting on this matter at this time due to ongoing litigation."