FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 9, 2026.

The Decatur, Georgia law firm of Radford Scott, LLP is proud to announce the outcome of a one-week jury trial held in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. On January 9, 2026, the jury found in favor of our clients, five women who worked as Detention Officers and Security Technicians in the DeKalb County Jail. The case, filed on August 18, 2022, focused on sexual harassment that our clients experienced at the hands of inmates in the jail. The case was discussed on an episode of “Closer Look with Rose Scott.” We alleged that the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office failed to take reasonable care to address and remedy the harassment. The case was filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal law that prohibits sexual discrimination and sexual harassment in employment.

The evidence at trial showed that each of our clients experienced extreme sexual harassment, on a daily basis, from inmates in the jail. The evidence showed that the disciplinary system in the jail was ineffective, in that there was often no immediate action taken when an officer reported such harassment. Disciplinary hearings were often delayed for weeks or months after the incident occurred. The jail’s disciplinary policy categorized these incidents as relatively minor, and the discipline administered was often light.

Following the evidence, the jury found that each plaintiff had experienced a sexually hostile working environment; that her supervisors at the jail knew, or should have known, of the harassment; and that the Sheriff’s Office failed to take “prompt remedial action” to address the harassment. The jury awarded a total of $250,000 in damages to the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs were represented at trial by James Radford and Zachary Panter of Radford Scott, LLP, a law firm focused on representing employees in employment-related legal matters.

“This was a challenging case, because there is a level of harassment that anyone working in a jail can expect,” said James Radford. “But it remains the responsibility of leadership to take meaningful precautions to protect its employees. Each of our clients worked through the hardest days of Covid, often working significant overtime, in really difficult conditions. Inmates would expose themselves and threaten and intimidate them constantly. Our clients expected the jail to have systems in place to discipline these inmates and provide them the security they deserved. Unfortunately, that disciplinary system was defective by design and provided little risk of consequences for inmates who behaved in this way. We presented the evidence to prove our case, and we are grateful that the jury found in our favor.”

The case is docketed as Strozier, et al. v. Maddox, Civil Action No. 1:22-cv-3342-TRJ. A key order in the case, containing additional factual and legal background, can be seen below.

Questions, please contact James Radford, jradford@radfordscott.com, 404-400-3600.