Federal jurors in Springfield, Illinois last week sent a clear message to three former prison officials at the Logan Correctional Center. After hearing trial testimony about how a former counselor in the prison’s women and family services center sexually abused prisoners and harassed an employee, jurors awarded a total of $19.3 million in damages, including $11.3 million in punitive damages, to one of the former prisoners. Jurors found the officials, including the counselor who didn’t participate in the proceedings or show up to trial, violated the Jane Doe plaintiff’s Eighth Amendment rights by submitting her to cruel and unusual punishment. The pro bono team representing Doe was led by Britt Cramer of Kirkland & Ellis, Christina Sharkey who recently moved from Kirkland to Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, and Nicole Schult of Uptown People’s Law Center.

How did you get involved in this case?