The jury entered the verdict Wednesday in favor of Kristine Sink, a former guard at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison who has engaged in a high-profile legal battle against the Department of Corrections for years. Jurors ordered the state to pay her $1.425 million for lost wages and benefits and $575,000 for emotional distress. Prison officials put her on administrative leave for two months while they investigated whether she improperly removed a prison video and documents to help her lawsuit, before clearing her of any wrongdoing. State officials told Sink they didn't have a job that would accommodate her after inmates transferred to a newly-built penitentiary in Fort Madison in August 2015. The jury found that the state failed to provide a reasonable accommodation for Sink as required by Iowa law.

Source: ABC News March 08, 2018 23:15 UTC