The African immigrants working in Texas prisons have a reputation of being strict and serious. Steven Epperson, who served several years at the Darrington Unit, near Houston, describes the African officers he encountered to be "short-tempered and irritated by stupidity and ignorance." Okperuvwe shows flashes of this stereotype—he chuckles while recalling how one prisoner complained to him, "Man, they brought you here to oppress us!"
But as their numbers have grown, cultural tensions have become more noticeable. Some of the Nigerian men initially have trouble taking orders from female superiors. Veronica Williams, an African-American TDCJ employee who attends Okperuvwe's church, says she has seen these immigrants face discrimination and accusations that they're stealing jobs that should go to Americans—particularly in response to a program in which TDCJ hires immigrants on work visas (as opposed to ones who are already in the US). There are less than 50 Africans in this category. In 2009, a Nigerian officer in Huntsville named Marshall Akpanokop was accused of raping and impregnating a female prisoner. He was later proven innocent when a DNA test revealed that he was not the father, but Akpanokop sued the agency, arguing he had been "singled out as the culprit" because "he was a dark-skinned, Nigerian national with an accent."
Such dramatic incidents are rare, but language problems have been a consistent cause for grumbling. Family members of prisoners tell anecdotes about brothers and sons who don't understand the orders given by an African officer, due to his or her accent, and find themselves written up for failing to follow those orders. "The inmates don't know how to comply," says Jennifer Erschabek, who directs the Texas Inmate Families Association and whose son is at the Luther Unit, northwest of Houston. "The Africans think they're resisting, and then they write them up a case... And then other guards have a security issue; when there's a problem, they can't rely on some of the African guards to communicate in a bad situation." Anonymous officers have expressed similar frustrations on an employee blog.
- Maurice Chammah
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- Ikhide
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