Traumatized, mentally ill rape survivor jailed for month to ensure her testimony
During the rape trial, she had to be admitted to a hospital for mental health treatment. When the judge ordered the trial in recess, he ordered that she spend the recess in jail. Someone made a mistake entering the order, and she was identified in the papers as a rapist, rather than as a rape victim -- which led to beatings and other mistreatment in the jail.
The jail also failed to give the woman her prescribed medications.
She's suing now. And why am I not surprised this was in Texas?
https://wamu.org/news/16/07/22/rape_survivor_sues_after_texas_authorities_jailed_her_for_a_month
She has bipolar disorder and was admitted to a local hospital for mental health treatment when the judge ordered a recess for the holiday break until January 2016.
According to the documents, authorities were scheduled to be on vacation and "did not want the responsibility of having to monitor Jane Doe's well being or provide victim services to her during the holiday recess."
The complaint alleges that the district attorney's office obtained an order from the Harris County sheriff to take the woman into custody so she would not flee before completing her testimony.
The employee booking her into Harris County Jail identified her as a "defendant in a sexual assault case, rather than the victim." That impacted her treatment from jail staff, as the complaint reads:
SNIP
The complaint notes that her "rapist was also an inmate in the same facility" and treated more humanely. "Her rapist was not denied medical care, psychologically tortured, brutalized by other inmates, or beaten by jail guards," it reads.
