Inmate Wins $1.3m for Sexual Assault Ordeal

Posted on Jul 03, 2009 
 

A female inmate has been awarded $1.3 million by a federal judge after being sexually assaulted by a corrections sergeant in a corrections centre in Colorado. 
 
The 34 year old inmate was serving a four year sentence for drug, burglary and escape charges when she underwent 5 months of sexual assault, culminating in rape in October 2006, at the hands of a Colorado Department of Corrections sergeant at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility.  
 
David M. Ebel, the US Circuit Judge hearing the case, said that he hoped that these damages would be a deterrent to other correctional officers and wrote:  
 
"The court recognizes that punitive damages awards often are overinflated but believes an award of this magnitude is justified under the disturbing circumstances of this case. The right to be safe from sexual assault and rape by one of her guards turned out to be worth no more than the paper upon which (the regulation) was printed."  
 
Ebel also commented that based on the testimonies of other inmates, he believed that the Department of Corrections does not effectively enforce its zero-tolerance policy on the sexual abuse of inmates and this is one of the reasons that he had chosen to set the compensation award so high.  
 
The female inmate had already settled with the Department of Corrections out of court for $250,000, and this lawsuit was against Sergeant LeShawn Terrell who was sentenced to 60 days in jail on a misdemeanour charge of unlawful sexual contact.  
 
The award of $1.3 million included $354,070 to compensate the victim for medical costs and emotional suffering, and punitive damages of $1 million against Sergeant Terrell.