The Iowa Court of Appeals has ordered a new trial for a female prison guard who claimed she was sexually harassed.
Kristine Sink claimed she was sexually harassed while working at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison in May 2003. Many of the prisoners were sex offenders and Sink complained that they were allowed to watch sexually explicit movies. She continued to report what she thought were questionable movies.
Administrators eventually responded by showing animated children’s movies and television shows to the prisoners. Sink said this set off a number of threats against her — including some that were very sexually explicit — and she filed a lawsuit.
Her claim of retaliation was dismissed before going to trial, and a jury then ruled against her sexual harassment claim. The Iowa Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of the retaliation claim, but found the there was an error in the instruction given to the jury in the sexual harassment claim and reversed the jury decision and ordered a new trial.
Here’s the complete ruling: Sink Ruling PDF