On Wednesday afternoon, a Polk County jury returned a $2,000,000 verdict in favor of former Iowa State Penitentiary Corrections Officer, Kristine Sink.
After a decade-long battle of standing up to various civil rights abuses at the penitentiary, the jury found that the State of Iowa and the Iowa Department of Corrections illegally retaliated against Kristine and failed to accommodate her disabilities. Kristine started working at ISP in 2003 and quickly became a vocal and persistent advocate to have the prison stop entertaining inmates with sexually graphic and violent movies. Kristine was ultimately successful in this crusade, but it came at great personal cost. The years of fighting for a safe and non-sexualized workplace left Kristine with PTSD and other mental health conditions. After Kristine took her sexual harassment case to trial in the fall of 2014, she experienced retaliation at work and ISP refused to accommodate her disabilities by continuing to assign her to a control room position.
Paige Fiedler and Emily McCarty represented Kristine during the 12-day trial in Polk County. The jury’s verdict included \$175,000 in past lost wages and benefits; \$1,250,000 in future lost wages and benefits; and \$575,000 in emotional distress damages.
Additional information is available in the following news articles:
Des Moines Register: Former Prison Guard Wins $2M Retaliation Suit
ABC News: Jury awards $2M to female guard for reprisals at Iowa prison
KCCI: Jury awards $2M to female Prison guard over sexual harassment
The Gazette: Former prison guard wins $2M over workplace retaliation
Washington Post: Jury awards $2M to female guard for reprisals at Iowa prison