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A judge determined that the state’s own evidence did not support its allegations of misconduct, and as a result, a state prisons officer who was fired for misbehavior was granted unemployment benefits.
Samantha Holub was employed by the Iowa Department of Corrections at the Anamosa State Penitentiary from November 2023 until her administrative leave ended in February 2025. She was dismissed on April 2 for allegedly breaking employee conduct policies.
In early February, Holub took a Ziploc bag out of her pocket, took out a medication, and then handed the drug to an inmate, the DOC said, citing an analysis of security camera footage. Holub allegedly gave a handwritten note to an inmate while they were in the infirmary in another incident that happened around the same time and was uncovered by the DOC.
Additionally, the department said that Holub had been communicating with coworkers at nonwork email addresses using the company’s Google Chat software, which may have been a security breach.
In an interview with DOC investigator Michael Griffith, according to state records, Holub allegedly rationalized the pill incident by saying that nurses did not give ibuprofen to convicts who came to the infirmary because they thought the inmates would buy the medication from the commissary instead.
Holub reportedly explained that when a nurse denied an inmate’s request for ibuprofen, she handed the substance to the inmate because it sometimes take days for the commissary-ordered medications to arrive after they are reordered, putting the people in discomfort.
Regarding the note passing, Holub clarified that she had discussed with an inmate the names and job titles of the administrators who processed applications for part-time work in the infirmary and had recorded these details for the inmate.
Holub acknowledged using non-work email addresses to speak with people using Google Chat, but she said she was not aware that was prohibited.
Holub’s application for unemployment benefits, which the DOC had contested, was recently heard by Administrative Law Judge Elizabeth Johnson.
Johnson pointed out that the DOC decided not to present any records, video footage, or witness testimony during the hearing to back up its decision to fire Holub.
In her decision, Johnson ruled that Holub’s justifications for her actions were plausible and that the employer’s own testimony did not support the grounds it gave for firing her.
Johnson further noted that although the DOC had asserted that Holub’s usage of Google Chat had breached security standards, the assertion was refuted by a supervisor who had started one of the discussions the department was using as proof of misconduct.
According to Johnson’s decision, the employer did not provide any of the 324 pages of purportedly contained texts as evidence during the hearing. The employer (Holub) was fired for disqualifying, work-related misconduct, but this is not supported by the evidence in the record. Her employment may have been terminated in accordance with internal policies, and this decision does not call into doubt the employer’s commercial choice.
The Iowa Capital Dispatch published this article initially.
