LANCASTER COUNTY- The administrator who oversaw the state prisons' mental health and substance abuse services and sex offender program is suing her former employer alleging, among other things, that the prison was manipulating housing statistics by moving inmates who weren't mentally ill into the mental health unit. In a lawsuit filed in Lancaster County District Court, Alice Mitwaruciu alleged that Dawn-Renee Smith, deputy director of the Department of Correctional Services since 2018, made clinical decisions affecting the mental health care and treatment of inmates, regardless of a lack of medical or mental health training.

Mitwaruciu, a Black woman from Kenya, also is alleging she faced racial discrimination while working for the prisons. She said prison leaders treated her in an overtly aggressive and disrespectful way and interfered with her ability to do her job by keeping her out of meetings that involved matters she oversaw.

The case comes on the heels of lawmakers last month approving a $100,000 payment to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed against the prison by Razak Aljanabi, a former corporal at the Nebraska State Penitentiary who is from Iraq and a practicing Shia Muslim.

Among the claims, he said during a roll call in 2016, a lieutenant announced the start of Ramadan to booing and laughing, then said "Believe me, I feel the same way" and laughed. A month later, he was told he wasn't allowed to pray during his shift and couldn't have his prayer rug or holy book on him, though other officers were able to have Bibles.

The Nebraska Attorney General's Office, which will represent the prison, declined to comment on the lawsuit Wednesday.

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