Jury finds officer put inmate in harm’s way, awards $350K

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal jury has awarded $350,000 in damages to an inmate who sued an Eastern Oregon prison guard, alleging she compromised his safety by revealing to other prisoners that he was in protective custody after leaving a gang.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the jury found corrections officer Amanda Litzsinger violated inmate Skyler James Floro’s Eighth Amendment right to be free from harm while in state custody and that he suffered an injury as a result.

The judgment granted 23-year-old Floro $200,000 in punitive damages and $150,000 in non-economic damages. Litzinger remains an Oregon corrections officer.

The case stemmed from when Floro was an inmate at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in early 2017.

Floro’s lawyer John Burgess says Floro was slashed with a makeshift weapon by another inmate and attacked multiple times after Litzsinger announced to other inmates that Floro was a “P.C. case,” short for protective custody.

Oregon Department of Corrections spokeswoman Betty Bernt says they are considering options for appeal.