Ja’Michael Bryant
HANCOCK COUNTY — A little over a year after an Indianapolis man filed a federal civil lawsuit against county officials, claiming his civil rights had been violated after he received a profanity-laced voicemail from county officials, the matter has been settled.
Ja’Michael Bryant, who filed a federal lawsuit in May 2023 against the Hancock County Board of Commissioners and three Hancock County Community Corrections (HCCC) officers, alleging racial discrimination and violation of his civil rights, came to an agreement with county officials in mid-June.
According to court records, the parties reached a settlement. County officials told the Daily Reporter the case was resolved after mediation for $105,000 and any other particulars about the settlement would not be discussed.
County officials say they consider the matter closed and had no further comment.
According to the lawsuit, a HCCC field officer called Bryant, who was serving a sentence in the county for dealing marijuana, but Bryant did not answer the phone. However, the phone did not disconnect. Instead, it recorded a conversation about Bryant by three HCCC employees at the time who were identified as Nicole Raffaelli, Thomas Smith, and Daniel Devoy.
The three HCCC workers are heard in the three-minute recording talking to each other about Bryant. The officers refer to Bryant as a “lazy motherf**ker,” a “b**ch” and a “little thuggy.”
The voicemail also references Bryant moving out of “the hood” and talks about his current home being “nice.”
According to court documents, Bryant, who is black, was convicted of dealing marijuana and sentenced to a year and a half through the Hancock County Community Corrections Home Detention in November of 2022.
The lawsuit states that Bryant resides with his mother, who owns and operates a successful business. Bryant and his mother were able to move into a larger home on the far east side of Indianapolis. Bryant was required to make arrangements through HCCC for approval of the new address.
According to court documents, Bryant contacted Devoy to let him know the day had come to physically move to the new home. Devoy, the lawsuit states, immediately commenced with cursing at Bryant by reminding him Bryant is the “motherf**ker on home detention” and denied Bryant permission to move.
Bryant’s mother heard the inappropriate language and contacted a Community Corrections supervisor to complain. Bryant was then allowed to move to a new address, the documents state. However, an officer’s behavior and attitude toward Bryant was only the beginning of a relentless campaign of harassment against Bryant and his family, the court documents state.
An HCCC officer, the lawsuit states, was rude and disrespectful toward Bryant and sometimes cursed during their communications between December 2022 and March 2023.
During a phone call from officials with the HCCC to Bryant in April, Bryant didn’t answer. However, the HCCC officers thought the phone had been disconnected, when it was not, and the phone recorded the conversation of the three HCCC employees talking about Bryant.
Bryant, who filed the federal lawsuit against county officials was arrested for probation violation in Aug. 2023 for failing a drug test. However, according to county records, both local cases against Bryant are closed.
Since the lawsuit was filed, the former head of the HCCC has since been replaced while one of the field officers who was involved in the federal lawsuit, Smith, was arrested and charged with DUI and fired from his job with the county.
