Prince George's Correctional Officer Sues County Over Discrimination, Retaliation Claims

Correctional officer Keisha Hudson filed a 12-count civil rights lawsuit against Prince George's County and two of her supervisors on March 9, 2026, alleging race discrimination, sex discrimination, retaliation and a hostile work environment inside the county's corrections department. The complaint, filed in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County under case number C-16-CV-26-001330, names Captain Avery Johnson and Sergeant Tamara Johnson as individual defendants alongside the county itself.

At the center of the lawsuit is a formal internal complaint Hudson submitted on June 4, 2025. According to the filing, a fellow officer disclosed to Hudson that Sergeant Tamara Johnson's negative treatment of her was motivated by Hudson's light skin complexion. The complaint alleges that retaliation followed shortly after Hudson submitted that internal discrimination and harassment complaint, and that she was singled out for discipline as a result.

Civil rights law firm Justly Prudent filed the suit on Hudson's behalf. The complaint brings claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act, and the Prince George's County Code.

Hudson is seeking back pay, compensatory and punitive damages, expungement of any disciplinary records tied to the alleged retaliation, and institutional reforms to the corrections department's hearing board procedures. That last demand signals that the lawsuit reaches beyond Hudson's individual circumstances, pressing the county to change how it adjudicates internal disciplinary matters.

As of the filing date, Prince George's County, Captain Avery Johnson, and Sergeant Tamara Johnson had not filed responses to the complaint.

The Hudson lawsuit arrives against a backdrop of prior civil rights litigation targeting Prince George's law enforcement agencies. In December 2018, 13 officers of color with the Prince George's Police Department, joined by the Hispanic National Law Enforcement Association and the United Black Police Officers Association, filed a separate federal suit in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt challenging what they described as a pattern and practice of race discrimination and retaliation within PGPD. That case, supported by the ACLU of Maryland, the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and Arnold & Porter, is a distinct matter from Hudson's Circuit Court complaint but reflects recurring allegations of discrimination within the county's law enforcement workforce.

The Hudson case proceeds as case number C-16-CV-26-001330 in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, headquartered in Upper Marlboro. Justly Prudent can be reached through attorney Lars Kroner at 202-921-6080. The county has not yet offered any public comment on the allegations.