Freitag

May a state department of corrections be held liable for prison officials’ failure to correct a hostile work environment that is the result of male prisoners’ sexual harassment of female guards? We answer that question, “Yes.”

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and three Pelican Bay State Prison (Pelican Bay) administrators appeal a judgment in favor of Deanna Freitag, a former correctional officer in the prison’s Secure Housing Unit. Freitag alleged that the CDCR and Pelican Bay were delinquent in addressing the sexually hostile environment created by prison inmates — particularly in confronting the pervasive practice at Pelican Bay of inmate exhibitionist masturbation directed at female officers — and that she was retaliated against and ultimately terminated due to her repeated complaints regarding the problem. A jury agreed, finding that the CDCR maintained a hostile work environment and retaliated against Freitag in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and that the three administrators retaliated against her for engaging in constitutionally protected speech in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 . We conclude that substantial…