She said the federal government had been responsible for Garrido's parole supervision in the period between his release from jail in 1988, and 1999 when the state of California took over responsibility. Both the federal and state governments were therefore negligent, according to the complaint.
Jaycee Dugard sues US government over 18-year captivity
Jaycee Dugard is suing the United States government over alleged failings
which allowed her to be kidnapped and held captive for 18 years.
Jaycee Dugard, pictured here shortly before her 1991 kidnapping, is suing the US government over her captivity Photo: AP
Nick Allen
In a complaint filed in a San Francisco court, Miss Dugard claims federal
parole officers did not properly monitor her abductor Phillip Garrido.
The complaint said their errors in the handling of Garrido were as "outrageous
and inexcusable as they are numerous."
Garrido, a registered sex offender, was on parole when he kidnapped Miss
Dugard in 1991, when she was 11 years old. She was held in a shed in his
back garden in Antioch, California, and eventually freed in 2009.
Miss Dugard, now aged 31, is seeking unspecified damages from the US
government. Any compensation she receives will be donated to a charity, the
JAYC Foundation, which supports other victims of abductions and their
families.
She and the two daughters Garrido fathered by her have already received a $20
million settlement from the state of California.
In April a judge sentenced Garrido to 431 years in prison. His wife Nancy
Garrido was given a sentence of 36 years to life.
In a statement Miss Dugard's spokeswoman said the new legal action followed
two requests for private mediation, which had been rejected by the US
government.
She said the federal government had been responsible for Garrido's parole
supervision in the period between his release from jail in 1988, and 1999
when the state of California took over responsibility. Both the federal and
state governments were therefore negligent, according to the complaint.
Miss Dugard's spokeswoman said: "It goes without saying that what Jaycee
went through in any one week of her 18-year captivity is more horrifying
than most people will experience in their lifetime."
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