Ortiz v. Voinovich.U.S. District Court SEXUAL ASSAULT Ortiz v. Voinovich, 211 F.Supp.2d 917 (S.D.Ohio 2002). An inmate sued state officials alleging that she was sexually assaulted by a corrections officer The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. and that she was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment Such punishment as would amount to torture or barbarity, any cruel and degrading punishment not known to the Common Law, or any fine, penalty, confinement, or treatment that is so disproportionate to the offense as to shock the moral sense of the community. in violation of her Eighth Amendment rights. The district granted summary judgment for the defendants in part, and denied it in part. The court held that fact questions as to whether the inmate feared further sexual assault by the corrections officer, whether the inmate made a cottage manager aware of her fear of assault, whether the cottage manager was deliberately indifferent to the inmate's notification regarding a threatened sexual assault, and whether the proffered reasons for placing the inmate in segregation was a pretext PRETEXT. The reasons assigned to justify an act, which have only the appearance of truth, and which are without foundation; or which if true are not the true reasons for such act. Vattel, liv. 3, c. 3, 32. . The inmate alleged that a corrections officer went into her room and fondled her breasts and made lewd comments, and then threatened to "get her tomorrow." The inmate said she notified corrections officials of the assault and threat and that the following day the officer sexually assaulted her after she went to sleep. She alleged that she was placed in solitary confinement solitary confinement n. the placement of a prisoner in a Federal or state prison in a cell away from other prisoners, usually as a form of internal penal discipline, but occasionally to protect the convict from other prisoners or to prevent the prisoner from causing instead of protective custody An arrangement whereby a person is safeguarded by law enforcement authorities in a location other than the person's home because his or her safety is seriously threatened. after she reported the assault. The court found no evidence to support the claim that a prison investigator and warden had knowledge of inadequate conditions while the inmate was in segregation. The inmate alleged she was provided with inadequate heat, bedding, sanitation and access to medical treatment while segregated. (Ohio Reformatory for Women In September 1916, the Ohio Reformatory for Women (ORW) opened in Marysville, Ohio. Thirty-four female inmates were transferred from the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. [1] ORW is a multi-security, state facility. at Marysville) |
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