What is the current state of the law on sexual assault by a prison guard who touches an inmate's genitals?

"Although not every malevolent touch by a prison guard gives rise to a federal cause of action, the Eighth Amendment is offended by conduct that is repugnant to the conscience of mankind. " Crawford v. Cuomo , 796 F.3d 252, 256 (2d Cir. 2015) (quoting

[976 F.3d 275]

Hudson v. McMillian , 503 U.S. 1, 910, 112 S.Ct. 995, 117 L.Ed.2d 156 (1992) ). "A correction[ ] officer's intentional contact with an inmate's genitalia or other intimate area, which serves no penological purpose and is undertaken with the intent to gratify the officer's sexual desire or to humiliate the inmate, violates the Eighth Amendment." Id. at 254. Our "principal inquiry" in determining if there was an Eighth Amendment violation "is whether the contact is incidental to legitimate official duties, such as a justifiable pat frisk or strip search, or by contrast whether it is undertaken to arouse or gratify the officer or humiliate the inmate." Id. at 25758.