The man in charge of the Bullitt County (Kentucky) jail is facing a lawsuit after he forced a Black employee of the jail to attend a GOP fundraiser against his wishes so he could claim to have a Black friend, WDRB Fox 41 in Louisville reports.

Jailer Paul Watkins allegedly forced former jail employee Anthony Maddox to attend an event the Lincoln Reagan Dinner 2022 at the Paroquet Spring Conference Center in Shepherdsville April 9 where Rand Paul was the guest speaker.

Watkins reported responded to Maddox claiming he didn’t want to attend the event by telling Maddox that “other jail employees want your neck” but that Watkins would protect his job, so he should attend the event as thanks.  After Maddox reiterated that he was uncomfortable attending, Watkins asked if Maddox wanted a raise and a promotion to sergeant.  When Maddox said he would like that, Watkins told him to “dress nice” and show up at the event.

The lawsuit also contends that Watkins management of the jail was so divisive 36 jail employees quit their jobs in the months after Watkins took command.  Former and current employees said that Watkins would use Black employees “for show,” Maddox said, noting that Watkins had been recording saying racist, detrimental things about minority members of his family.

“I’m saying this, like, to you all. I don’t say this in public. See, my granddaughter is married to a fucking [n-word] and he is a [n-word]. There’s a thing — there’s a difference between a black guy and a [n-word], and this bastard…”

In the lawsuit, Maddox said he quit his job because of “the racially intolerable conditions of his employment created by Jailer Watkins that were so subjectively and objectively intolerable and commonly known among coworkers and the public that any reasonable black employee in Anthony’s position would feel compelled to quit.”