SALEM, Ore. (AP) - A Marion County jury awarded two former employees at the Department of Correction's Santiam Correctional Institution a combined $1 million in a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination and retribution for whistleblowing.

Russell Rice and Larry Lytle, who are white, were managers at the facility and alleged that superintendent Frank Thompson, who is black, gave preferential treatment to other black employees.

The jury deliberated for one day last week after a seven-day trial and awarded Rice $350,000 in economic damages and $250,000 for non-economic damages. Lytle was awarded $150,000 in economic damages and $250,000 for non-economic damages.

"We are considering our next steps," said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Chane Griggs. "We are disappointed in the outcome."

Griggs declined to discuss specifics because of a possible appeal.

Rice, now 59, and Lytle, now 55, held management positions before they were terminated in 2004. Rice was operations manager of the prison and Lytle was an inmate work supervisor.

They claimed the firings were without basis and were retaliatory for their complaining to other prison officials about what they said was Thompson's race-based treatment toward employees, plaintiff attorney Bill Brandt said.

According to court records, Rice alleged that Thompson forced him to retire in March 2004, but continued as a temporary worker until fired by Thompson in April.

Lytle voluntarily retired in March 2004, but worked part-time until Thompson fired him that month.

Both were career Department of Corrections employees who had received high performance evaluations, the court documents said.

the trial was delayed for more than a year because Rice, a U.S. Army reservist, went to Iraq for combat duty after he was fired.

Rice now works at the Pentagon. Lytle has been rehired by the Department of Corrections as a captain at Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Eastern Oregon, Brandt said. 

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)