BUFFALO - The state Corrections Department has been ordered to pay $850,000 to a lesbian prison guard who said she feared for her life while being relentlessly harassed by a co-worker because of her sexual orientation.

New York Human Rights Commissioner Kumiki Gibson also directed the department to train employees and enforce policies to prevent discrimination after an administrative law judge found it had subjected the guard “to a hostile work environment because she is gay and female.”

Corrections Officer Alicia Humig, 55, said she was bombarded with derogatory names, sexually offensive drawings and written comments at Wende Correctional Facility for a year and that her complaints about it only led to retaliation by the department.

The harassment by fellow officer Jim Wright left Humig unable to eat or sleep, caused frequent nosebleeds and depression and threatened her safety at work, according to the judge's finding, which was accepted by Gibson on Thursday.

“This case reflects the most disturbing nightmare that any employee could find herself,” Administrative Law Judge Martin Erazo Jr. wrote.

The Corrections Department, the judge said, “willfully permitted a work environment to flourish where the credible evidence showed the complainant could have been killed because she is a gay female.”

Corrections spokesman Erik Kriss said the department would appeal the ruling and called the award amount excessive.

“We have a case here involving two of our own employees basically disputing what each other is saying,” Kriss said. “We did side with the accuser ... We did take the action we could take which was that we formally counseled the allegedly offending employee.”

Wright and Humig continue to work at Wende, a maximum-security prison in Alden, though in different areas of the complex, Kriss said. Alden is 19 miles east of Buffalo.

According to the ruling, the problems began in July 2002 after Wright accused Humig of having an improper relationship with a male inmate at the western New York facility and asked that the inmate be removed from her control. After Humig challenged Wright, he began calling her names and telling her to quit.

Humig had been a corrections officer since 1983.

After supervisors ignored verbal complaints, Humig filed a written complaint in September 2002, which also was ignored, the ruling said. She filed a second written complaint in June 2003. A month later, Wright was formally counseled about his behavior, but it did not change.

A home telephone listing for Wright could not be located. A message left for him at the prison was not immediately returned.

Humig filed a complaint with the state Division of Human Rights in March 2003. Public hearings were held last October and Erazo issued the finding recommending damages for mental anguish in September.

The judge faulted the department for not treating Humig's complaints as sexual harassment and for retaliating against her written complaints by searching her locker and throwing out her belongings.

“This case shocks the conscience,” Gibson said.

Among harassment detailed in the opinion:

-In July 2002, “lesbian jokes” and other offensive comments appeared on a calendar in a common area at the prison. At one point the calendar stated, “the lesbian's on vacation.” The handwriting was found to be Wright's.

-About the same time, drawings of penises began to appear on a picture of Humig's motorcycle that was displayed with pictures of other officers' motorcycles. Each drawing had the name of a male inmate.

-Wright accused Humig of drug use with an inmate in front of approximately 20 other inmates and several officers.

When another officer voiced concerns over the situation, a supervisor said he “didn't want to hear it,” the opinion said.

The Corrections Department has 60 days to file its notice of appeal.

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On the Net:

Division of Human Rights: www.dhr.state.ny.us.

Department of Corrections: www.docs.state.ny.us

AP-ES-10-12-07 1717EDT