U.S. Appeals Court: SEXUAL HARASSMENT FAILURE TO PROTECT.

Daskalea v. District of Columbia. 227 F.3d 433 (D.C.Cir. 2000). A former District of Columbia jail inmate who had been forced to perform a striptease in front of other prisons and male and female guards, sued the District and corrections officials for [sections] 1983 violations. The district court entered a jury verdict awarding $350,000 in compensatory and $5 million in punitive damages, and denied the defendants' motion far judgment as a matter of law. The appeals court affirmed in part and reversed in part. The appeals court held that the $350,000 award for mental and emotional distress resulting from the [sections] 1983 violation was reasonable, but that the former inmate was not entitled to punitive damages from the District for negligent supervision, because District law bars the imposition of such awards against the District. The mental and emotional distress award was supported, according to the court, by the fact that the inmate was denied library assistance because she refused to have sex with the l ibrarian, she was attacked with the assistance of correctional officers, she was confined in isolation without underwear or a mattress, she felt constant stress, anxiety and dread of imminent sexual...