The victim of a serial rapist was imprisoned for a month to make sure she would testify after she suffered a mental breakdown.
The woman, named only as Jenny, is suing Harris County in Texas and US law enforcement for unspecified damages.
Jenny, who suffers from bipolar disorder, experienced a psychological break while on the witness stand.
She walked out into traffic outside the Harris County Criminal Courthouse and was then involuntarily committed to a psychiatric ward in St. Joseph's Hospital.
But following her release, she was put into general population at the Harris County jail over the Christmas holidays.
Jenny is homeless and officials used an attachment order, allowed under Texas law, to detain her.
While in prison she was allegedly assaulted by another inmate and had her head smashed against some concrete.
According to her lawyer, Sean Buckley, Jenny did not receive her medication while she was incarcerated and suffered another mental breakdown.
Mr Buckley said: "The prosecutors, for their own convenience, just wanted to dominate and control my client,"
"And the best way for them to do that was to put her in the Harris County jail as a material witness," Chron reports.
"It goes beyond just negligence," he added. "The District Attorney's office could have resolved this by just giving her victims' services and helping her instead of trying to control her out of laziness."
Jenny was allowed out of jail on 11 January and testified against her attacker, Keith Hendricks, who was later jailed for raping several women and given two life sentences.
Officials at the Harris County Sheriff's office are investigating the allegations.
