SANDY HOOK, Ky. –– In a $1.6 million verdict, a jury ruled in favor of four women who said they were sexually harassed by a male supervisor while working as guards at a state prison for men in northeastern Kentucky.

The jury announced the verdict on Friday against the Kentucky Department of Corrections after a six-day trial. The case was part of a lawsuit filed in 2014 against Sgt. Stephen Harper of the Little Sandy Correctional Complex, the prison’s warden Joseph Meko and the Department of Corrections.

The lawsuit alleged Harper inappropriately touched female staffers, exposed himself to them, tried to force the women to touch him and rubbed himself against them.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued Harper had committed sexual assault, creating a hostile work environment that led to a violation of the women’s civil rights. The lawsuit alleged Meko did not investigate the complaints properly.

The women — Colleen Payton, Lisa Suliman, Jennifer Dennis and Donna Adkins — were each awarded $400,000 in the verdict, the full amount sought in the lawsuit, according to their attorneys. The case had been moved from the prison’s Elliot County to neighboring Carter County in an attempt to avoid potential conflicts in jury selection.

Suliman, who worked at the prison from 2005 to 2016, said in a phone interview the case had “taken its toll” on the women and she felt relieved when she heard the verdict.

“It’s been a ride through hell,” she said. “I said once it started, I wish I’d never told. But now I feel like an advocate, to be able to stand up for the women who can’t tell their story.”

Before the trial began, a confidential settlement was reached between Harper and the women, according to Ned Pillersdorf, a Prestonsburg attorney who represented Dennis and Adkins. In the trial, the jury ruled against a claim by one of the women that Meko retaliated against her for filing complaints.

Suliman said “the truth was revealed” even though “the Little Sandy Correctional Complex was hiding all their secrets.” She said she was “attacked” by Harper, who was her supervisor, in 2013, but initially feared she would face backlash if she reported a complaint.

“I needed my job,” she said. “Unless you walk in that prison you wouldn’t understand it. We call it the good old boys club.”

The women’s case sparked national interest when The New York Times reported their story in January, 2016, which led to a nine-month investigation of prisons around the country for a short documentary, “Code of Silence.”  The investigation found that sexual abuse and harassment from coworkers is not uncommon in prisons across the U.S. and that many women do not file reports for fear of retaliation. 

A spokesperson for the Kentucky Department of Corrections relayed a statement by Kentucky Corrections Commissioner Rodney Ballard when reached by The Daily Independent for comment.

“I have a lot of respect for the jury system, but sometimes juries get it wrong,” Ballard said. “We believe that’s what happened here and we are evaluating all our legal options for an appeal.”

The department confirmed Harper is still employed at the prison, and did not answer whether Harper would continue to be a state employee in the wake of the ruling.

Suliman said she’s frustrated Harper is still employed at Little Sandy. Of the four plaintiffs, only one of the women, Payton, still works at the prison.

Adkins writes for the Ashland, Kentucky Daily Independent.