The U.S. Supreme Court says Ohio's Prison officials did nothing to prevent the 2002 sexual assault of a female inmate in Marysville by a guard. The judges unanimously agreed that an appeals court was wrong to throw out a six hundred and twenty five thousand dollar judgement awarded to Michelle Ortiz. In an interview with Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles, Ohio Rehabilitation and Corrections Department spokesman Carlo LaParo says the agency is trying to figure out what happens next.
Ortiz was serving a one year sentence at the Ohio Reformatory for women in November 2002 when she was fondled and molested by a prison guard at that lockup. When she discussed the two attacks with other inmates, she was shackled and sent to solitary confinement.