A federal jury in Milwaukee has awarded $6.7 million to a former inmate who alleged in a civil lawsuit that a county jail officer sexually assaulted her several times while she was pregnant.
Milwaukee County expects to appeal Wednesday’s verdict, which found that former corrections officer Xavier Thicklen was acting as a county employee when the alleged assaults happened in February 2013.
Prosecutors charged Thicklen with sexual assault of the inmate but dismissed the charges in 2014 in an agreement charging him with felony misconduct in public office. He pleaded no contest but the court ultimately found him guilty.
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The woman identified as “Jane Doe” says she was in the early stages of pregnancy when she was jailed and that Thicklen raped her during and after her pregnancy. The jury rejected her claim that it was unconstitutional that she was shackled while giving birth.
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