Sarah Grady

Where the Jail Cameras Stopped

A Wisconsin jail prohibited sexual contact on paper while leaving women, male guards, and the means of reporting abuse inside the same closed system. Sarah Grady defended two survivors’ verdict through en banc review and a petition to the Supreme Court.

Hidden Areas

J.K.J. and M.J.J. were held intermittently at the Polk County Jail in northwest Wisconsin between 2011 and 2014. Darryl Christensen had worked there as a correctional officer for nineteen years. He began with comments about the women’s bodies, escalated to physical contact, and repeatedly assaulted them over roughly three years.

J.K.J. testified that during one two-month period in 2012 Christensen demanded sexual contact whenever he was on duty. M.J.J. estimated that he had sexual contact with her twenty-five to seventy-five times. He chose hidden areas, controlled access, and told both women that disclosure would cost him his job and family. They described shame, fear of retaliation, and doubt that anyone would believe them.

An investigator from another county eventually reported an allegation involving Christensen. Polk County opened an internal investigation; he resigned when confronted. A criminal investigation led state authorities to J.K.J. and M.J.J. Christensen later pleaded guilty and received a thirty-year prison sentence.

Grady, Steve Art, and co-counsel brought the women’s civil claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The litigation extended beyond the officer’s crimes to allegations that the county itself acted with deliberate indifference by failing to prevent and detect sexual abuse inside a jail where nearly every route to safety ran through the staff.

The Verdict and En Banc Review

Grady, Steve Art, and co-counsel presented evidence that Polk County had notice of sexual misconduct yet failed to provide effective prevention, detection, training, or a safe reporting system. The jury found the officer and County liable and returned a combined $11.5 million verdict for J.K.J. and M.J.J.

On May 15, 2020, the Seventh Circuit sitting en banc affirmed the verdicts against both defendants. The Supreme Court denied review on January 11, 2021, leaving the en banc judgment and the County’s share of the compensatory award in place.

Weeks of Warning

Haley Metcalf alleged that Illinois prison officials failed to respond after she repeatedly reported threats from a cellmate with a documented history of violence. Grady, Howard Kaplan, and other members of their firm tried the federal civil-rights action.

On February 2, 2024, the jury awarded $2 million in compensatory damages and $2.35 million in punitive damages against several officials. The federal action concluded after the verdict and post-trial proceedings.

Seventy-Five Seconds

Nicholas Farah, a thirty-six-year-old father from Wisconsin, was arrested on a trespassing charge during a Las Vegas trip in March 2019. At the Clark County Detention Center, officers strapped him into a restraint chair. Jail video showed officers pressing his head toward his knees for about seventy-five seconds while changing his handcuffs. He was unresponsive when they returned him upright and died at a hospital soon afterward.

The Clark County coroner ruled the death a homicide caused by asphyxia during restraint procedures, with methamphetamine intoxication and obesity listed as significant contributing conditions. The district attorney found no criminal wrongdoing, concluding that officers lacked an intent to kill and were not committing an unlawful act while changing the restraints.

Grady represented Farah’s relatives in their federal excessive-force, wrongful-death, and negligence action. The Associated Press reported a $2.35 million settlement in January 2022; the Las Vegas Review-Journal placed the total at $2.38 million, consisting of $1.89 million from the police department and $490,000 in insurance.

After the settlement, Grady said there should be a price for dehumanizing people and insisted that Farah be remembered as a father, son, and brother. She now practices as a Kaplan & Grady partner and co-founder in Chicago, with an appellate practice focused on preserving civil-rights judgments and proving responsibility beyond the individual officer.