Grok executive summary:
Prison officials at Illinois’ Logan Correctional Center learned a counselor was sexually assaulting inmate Andrea Nielsen but, instead of removing her from danger, the investigator and warden secretly used her as “bait,” hiding in a ceiling and staking out the counselor’s office in hopes of catching him in the act; the plan failed, and she was assaulted again. Nielsen sued the counselor, the investigator (Sexton), and the warden (Burke), and a jury found all three liable, awarding her over $19 million in compensatory and punitive damages. On appeal, the 7th Circuit rejected Sexton and Burke’s attempt to claim qualified immunity and upheld the finding that their conduct—using an unwitting inmate as bait for a known sexual predator—was “obviously” unconstitutional and unreasonable, though it ordered a new trial limited to recalculating punitive damages because one piece of potentially relevant evidence (a disputed “freshen up for my man” comment) was improperly excluded.
Thank you.