WA: $9.5 Million Settlement for Registrant Attacked Behind Bars

Pierce County, Washington, has agreed to pay $9.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that failures in jail policies, supervision, and staff training allowed a man convicted of a sex offense to be brutally attacked by other inmates.

Whether you agree with someone’s crime or not, this case shines a light on a reality that is too often ignored: people labeled as “sex offenders” are among the most vulnerable populations in our nation’s jails and prisons. Their offenses are often public knowledge, making them frequent targets for intimidation, extortion, and violent assaults by other inmates.

Correctional officials know this. They have a constitutional duty to take reasonable steps to protect those in their custody. When that duty is ignored, the consequences can be catastrophic. Unfortunately, the danger doesn’t exist only behind prison walls.

The public registry has made identifying people convicted of sex offenses easier than ever. Across the country, registrants have been assaulted, threatened, harassed, had their homes vandalized, lost employment, and in some tragic cases, even murdered by individuals who found them through publicly available registry information. FAC has long warned that publicly branding people for life carries real risks—not only for registrants, but also for their spouses, children, parents, and neighbors who often become collateral victims.

This $9.5 million settlement is a reminder that the government cannot place a target on someone’s back – whether by incarcerating them or by placing them on a government-sanctioned public registry — and then ignore the foreseeable risk of harm. When the government creates or amplifies the danger to an individual, it has a corresponding duty to take reasonable steps to protect those individuals.

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